Dining, Housing Reveal Initiatives at Townhall

By Connect Mason Reporter Rachael Dickson

In a townhall meeting sponsored by Student Government Monday night, Mason dining and housing administrators met with students to explain some of the new initiatives and developments arriving at Mason in the next few years.

• What do you think of these changes? Are housing and dining administrators going in the right direction? What would you like to see at Mason?

MEAL PLANS
Executive Director of Dining and Technology Services Gregg Toney said that in the fall 2008 semester, Dining Services will provide more flexible meal plans. In response to feedback from students, administrators have developed a 150 flex and 230 flex meal plans. These meal plans will have a set number of meals per semester, allowing students to be more flexible with how many meals they use per day and week.

The Flex 10, 12 and 19 plans, which provide a set number of meals per week, will still be available for students and parents who desire a more structured meal plan.

In addition, more bonus dollar options will be available, in increments from $25-$300. These bonus dollars can be used at The Express and the One Stop Patriot Shop convenience stores on campus.

A new “Ultimate” plan is also in development, which would allow students with specific dining needs to use their meal plans as many times a day as they want.

Denise Ammaccapane, the new Resident District Manager of Mason’s Sodexho services, wants to bring Mason up to corporate standards, and is working towards transforming Mason into the top dining facility in the country.

SAY "GOOD-BYE" TO CIAO HALL, SAY "HELLO" TO THE NEW
Ciao Hall in SUB II will close at the end of this semester. It will be replaced by South Side, a new dining facility which will be in the Chesapeake Resident area. South Side, which will have 537 seats, was described as marquee style dining by Peter Schoebel, Sodexho’s new executive chef for Mason.

• Watch Jimmy "Chows" review the ambiance and food at Ciao Hall

The new facility will have many different types of dining and seating, and an entirely different type of environment than Ciao Hall.

The second floor of South Side will hold the main dining facility with six different food venues. These venues include a large salad bar, an international dining station with a menu that changes daily, a diner, a pizza place with a real deck oven, a deli with sandwiches made to order and a bakery with pastries, cookies and pies to order.

The first floor of South Side will be set up for to-go orders, allowing students to pick up hot meals and sandwiches. Though the exact operating hours of South Side have yet to be determined, it will be open for breakfast and will stay open later than Ciao Hall.

A number of new developments in food service at Mason will be noticeable as students come back from Spring Break. Charleston Market in the Johnson Center will be replaced by an Indian food venue. This venue will serve Halal meat, gyros, among other dishes. A complete meal will be sold for one meal plan, about $5.

Another venue in the Johnson Center has already undergone a face lift. Yaya’s Asian Kitchen, the new face of the JC’s Asian food facility, is already selling up to 1,700 sushi packs to students every day.

• Watch Jimmy "Chows" review Yaya's Asian Kitchen.

A Jazzman’s café will open up in the Sandy Creek Administrative building after break as well, with operating hours from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

In the fall semester, a free-standing Starbucks will open in the Northwest sector and will provide 50 seats with a fireplace set up.

Dining Services is also working to reevaluate their weekend hours. They hope to extend hours at dining facilities around campus soon.

DEVELOPING NEW HOUSING
Executive Director Jana Hurley, of Housing and Residence Life and Associate Director Scott Francis of Residence Life also spoke at the townhall.

Francis reported that this year, there had been more interest in the Residence Assistant jobs than ever before. Over 100 candidates for RA were interviewed this last week, the most ever at one time. He said that recently, the role of an RA has changed from an administrative and disciplinary role to more of an educating role. RA’s in Fall 2007 had an average GPA of 3.24, approximately .2 points above campus average. Housing is also investigating the possibility of hiring desk assistants for the residence areas instead of requiring RAs to man desk shifts.

Hurley said that the Northern Neck buildings will open on schedule this summer. In the same area, the Chesapeake development has a variety of classroom and multipurpose spaces open, which will be available for student groups to reserve.

Buildings Y and Z, which would be right next to the new Parking Deck under construction in Lot F, are in their design phases currently, but are not expected to have their plans changed too dramatically.

One of the buildings, scheduled to open in fall 2009, would be made for Living-Learning Communities and special interest groups. The four floor building is designed to have clusters of 16 beds arranged with communal rooms such as a study room and a kitchen. There would be 12 of these clusters in the whole building.

In Fall 2010, a second building boasting 400 beds will be designed along the same plans as the Chesapeake neighborhood. It may feature a dining facility as well.