A few students have voiced concerns to a student senator about overcrowding in Stations Dining Hall in Bridgeway Commons.
The dining facility Stations has a maximum capacity of 500 people. In any given day, Stations will see around 1,300 students.
The dining hall has seen about 500 more students per day than the former Platters dining facility had in years prior, making Stations a more popular dining facility than Platters.
The students who came forward with their concerns said there are very few available seats in the dining hall, especially during dinner time. Student Senator Gregory Atnip proposed a resolution to the seating limitations
Atnip’s idea for Stations was to combine tables to seat eight people rather than four, and then adding more tables in the new space now made. The tables and chairs that would be placed in these spots would have to be ordered and would take some time. This plan would add around 100 more seats, making the seating arrangement more bearable.
Atnip was approached about the problem, after asking students on campus what, if anything, he could help them with. Campus tour guides were among some of the students who forwarded their complaints.
“Tour guides would complain about the seating for their tours, and in turn, that’s affecting prospective students as well,” Atnip said.
At the Student Senate meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, this problem was brought up. Atnip’s resolution was discussed during the meeting amongst the senators. The senate majority was in favor of the resolution, although there were no students present during the meeting.
The main setback standing in the way of the proposed plan is the fire code for the number of students able to be in this space at one time, Dining Service Director Mike Ernst said.
“We will max out the seating number-whatever that may be,” Ernst said.
Ernst has some doubts about the possibility of adding more seats due to the fire code but said he is hopeful and wants to see the students happy.
This plan will be discussed and voted on at next week’s Student Senate meeting.
