For many Binghamton University students, spring break signifies a respite from some of the monotonous elements of University life. Many return to their homes and become reacquainted with family, old friends and familiar living quarters. But for the 652 students who stayed on campus over this year’s April break, vacation comes with a different set of associations.
Some stayed because they are international students and it would be too costly to return home, while others stayed to use the time to study. But regardless of why students chose to stay, all had to deal with a situation many found irksome: the closure of residential dining halls.
According to Sodexo, the campus food supplier, Jazzman’s Café in the Glenn G. Bartle Library and the Susquehanna Room in the Old University Union are the only dining facilities open on campus each spring break.
The facilities’ hours — Jazzman’s Café is open from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the Susquehanna Room from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. — often mean students staying over break must buy and cook their own groceries, order delivery or go out to eat.
Robert Griffin, district marketing manager for Sodexo, said that his company coordinates with the University administration to make decisions about dining facility operation and hours over the break.
“We provide the University with a copy of the dining services schedule well in advance. It is approved by the Office of Auxiliary Services,” Griffin said. “[The schedule] is based largely on historic transaction counts during prior breaks.”
Lina Kim, an undeclared freshman, said she was annoyed by the arrangement.
“I heard the Susquehanna [Room] is open, but that cannot satisfy all the students who are staying here for the break,” Kim said. “Also Jazzman’s Café is open until 1:30 p.m., but all the students wake up around that time and then there’s no place to go.”
Joshua Gibney, a junior majoring in biochemistry, was also unenthusiastic about the dining options.
“There’s nothing to eat on campus, so I just make stuff in my room,” he said.
The price of groceries became another frequent complaint for students accustomed to paying for their food with their meal plan rather than currency.
Gibney estimated he had spent “probably over 60 bucks” on food during this break. However, he added that he thought buying his own groceries cost him less than eating in the Susquehanna Room.
“The Susquehanna Room … is really expensive,” Gibney said.
Griffin pointed out that residential meal plan pricing is not in effect during the break.
“If the University or the students were to want to open our facilities during our breaks … it would of course affect the cost of meal plans, particularly [due to] the operating expenses,” he said.
Griffin said that keeping just the Susquehanna Room and Jazzman’s Café open during break made “the most logical sense given their location and the population that is still here.”
“Keep in mind, during spring break there aren’t a lot of students on the campus, so we do maintain the Susquehanna Room because faculty or staff are still on campus,” Griffin said. “And for those students who remain, it is an option for them to dine there for breakfast and lunch.”
He further explained that Jazzman’s Café is kept open “because it is [in] the Library, and students might be in that particular part of campus and may wish to have access to that facility as well.”
Griffin asserted that there did not exist a need for the facilities to stay open past lunchtime.
“It is really determined by need, and in the past … there has not been a need to have facilities open into the evening,” Griffin said.
He added that Sodexo would be willing to discuss keeping these facilities open in the evening during break if people brought this up to the company, along with reasons why it would be necessary.