Radford University's Dining Services

A Freshman's Nightmare

by AARON GRAY

It's 3:30, and my stomach is making a funny noise. I haven't eaten since 8 a.m. and I'm hungry. What would you do if you were in my situation? I'll give you a clue, it's not reading a book or sewing a quilt. It's time to go eat! And at Radford University, your options are unfortunately limited. There are several aspects that come into play when you combine the words, "food" and "college". The first one is money.

Everyone knows it and everyone lives by it. Plain and simple, college kids have no money. Partly because most students don't have time or are too lazy (evident in my case) to find employment. That's why I believe the take-out services around campus are nothing but con artists looking to get some money from restless, hungry college students. But that's another story. Therefore, Radford's dining services leave the only option for the famished students that roam the campus in search of food.

Now we come to a second dilemma: eating hours. There are about 9,000 students (mostly hungry) attending Radford University. Since it is 3:30 in the afternoon, all those hungry souls will have to wait at least another half an hour until any dining service on campus will feed them. My point is that there are many different people that go to school here. Thus, there are many different eating schedules and habits that exist here also. I want to meet the person who sets the eating schedule around 9,000 students. I have a perfect solution that will make everyone happy, but that will be revealed to you at a later time. Who are they to tell me when I should eat? I'm the one with the growling stomach; don't I get to make that decision? In any case, the times are set and all of us have to deal with them.

Munchies are a big part of any student's agenda. After all we are students, we do study a lot. That may include studying late at night. If you've ever opened up a book or studied for a psychology test, you will agree; studying makes you hungry.

On a normal day, I usually don't start to hit the books until 8 thirty, 9 o'clock. After a good hour session, my stomach begins to moan. After two, my minds starts playing with me and I begin singing songs about food. It's not until after three hours when my roommate stops me from taking a bite out of my loft. After all the shenanigans, I look at the clock to discover that Muse Underground closed over two hours ago. Two hours ago…

On a normal day, my roommate attends a 6-9pm Geology Lab. After his return at approximately 9:01pm, his stomach makes the familiar noise heard across the land. "I'm hungry," my roommate says. As he looks to his wallet and finds the routine outcome (nothing), he screams in anger. At that moment, I decide that something just isn't right. That is the moment I decided to write this. I feel if I get though to the head of Radford's dining services, I can make a difference. Now it is time for phase #2 of my evaluation. I've entitled it: The Solution.

I have a few proposals to ensure the eating satisfaction at Radford. They might be expensive, they might be outrageous, but they are true to themselves.

First, I propose a 24-hour eatery to exist at Radford. If my request is carried out, thousands of hungry students would be grateful. That would mean no matter what time your class ends, you can eat. No matter how long you study, you can eat. And that means if you like to read books or sew quilts, no matter what the time, you can eat. Such institutions exist in other neighbor colleges such as Virginia Tech and James Madison University. "The public has spoken," said Virginia Tech student Joseph Wiggum, "since I'm an athlete and I have practice late at night, there's always a place where I can indulge in some of today's finest college dining."

I also talked to a JMU senior who preferred to stay anonymous. "Since there is a 24-hour eatery at my university, I can still make it there in the wee hours of the morning." Everyone benefits from this idea, from college quilters to college athletes. Even though it would be hard to fill graveyard shifts at the dining hall, it will provide more jobs for the people of the community. It's a win-win situation.

To sum it all up, I would like to state that Radford's Dining Services are very adequate in the cuisine served. It's just the hours in which they operate that me bite my wooden loft. Along with the 24-hour eatery I think it would be nice to have random visits from local fast-food establishments like McDonalds or Taco Bell. That would just ensure dining excellence to all the faithful students at RU.

But on serious note, a 24-hour dining establishment is a good idea and would gain great support from all students. I know my roommate and I would greatly appreciate it. If there were such a place, I could study at any pace and still eat when I desire. After all, I don't like quilting and I'm sick of pulling splinters out of my teeth.

Name:   

E-Mail: 
Year:   

Major:  

Comments:

Name: shadoldy
Major: media studies
Comments:
Dear Aaron, I wish i had a loft to munch on. Anyways...I only had 2 questions. If there was a 24 hour eatery where would they get the money to pay for it and where would/should they put it? I think they should sell those TV's in Dalton, Heth, etc. to pay for the eatery. PS You know who I am. Just ask Tabs :)

Comments:
Let's start a riot people. Say it with me..."TACO BELL. TACO BELL. TACO BELL!!!"

Name: Kim and Natalee
Major: No fucking clue
Comments:
Big Urn, we really loved your idea. You rock and you have made us very hungry. We think you are really hot and we both want you at the same time. :-)

Comments:
get a fucking life...

Name: Martha Santana
Major: Pre-Med
Comments:
Aaron: I think you are crazy but you did prove a very well point! I agree with what you have wrote. What made you want to write about this?

Name: Martha Santana

Name: BigB
Major: Sowk
Comments:
This article was great...RU should have a 24 hour dining element. I don't see any impossible boundaries to stop a proposal like this one.

Name: David T. Selover
Major: engineering -i.e. I can roll 'em
Comments:
man im fuckin' famished right now. i hget done with cklass at 230, and i funnel a bunch 'o bers and goddamn it the dining facilities dont open until later. your a genius man

Name: BLZA
Major: yeah thats right
Comments:
my jaw dropped upon reading this piece, the words speak to me, in fact im hungry right now and the dining hall is not open, that place needs to be open all night, but for now ill just let URN tell it how it its for us college kids across the nation. whoever said URN is GOD was not joking.

Name: Kristie&Jen&Jonathan
Major: smoking blunts
Comments:
Munchies is a major part of college. for real. after we smoke phat ass blunts we fuckin wanna eat. damn...let us eat.we like to smoke 7 blunts a day. damn i'm hungry..we smoke after 9pm and after 9pm everything is closed. That is why i have to give head to the pizza man for some damn pizza. good idea big Urn

Name: fan-o-tis-publication
Comments:
This article rocks! Tartan should follow whim's example and publish articles like this one. It offers real solutions to real problems. All I usually see in the Tartan is poorly written articles complaining about the SGA. I am guessing that everytime Tartan is short on content, they walk out into the hallway, see the SGA office and decide to write another article on corruption. I am not taking sides on this topic, because truthfully I don't know and I don't care. What I want everyone to notice is that these guys are getting good stories every week and the local fish wrapper is filling thier pages with shit. I don't know much about these publications. I do know that Tartan is a lot more visible than whim, I think this a real shame. Obviously the whim staff is not small, because otherwise you would be unable to pull this off. If I can offer you any suggestions, make yourself known.

Name: Alexi Anson
Major: comp. sci./ econ
Comments:
URN has spoken, and has spoken wisely. i am in 100% aggreance with the man. its a pain when 12:00pm roles around and you've been studying all night, and need a bite to eat and have no where to go. its a mochary (of college students) to expect us not to get hungry after studying or doing other miscellanious things. afterall, when midnight roles around, thats 5 hours of no consumption of food (basis on my schools dinner hours, hampden-sydney college). in short, we pay the school a lot of money to get an education and a bite to eat, so why not have a twenty four hour diner? i think its a great idea and should be looked into. i have said my peace and i hope that you (fellow students)will support my friend Aaron Gray with his campaing. thank you and have a nice day!

Name: Henry Stallsberg
Major: Liberal Arts
Comments:
Did someone say, "Pulitzer"? To bad this came out after the Academy Awards, otherwise Shakesphere In Love would have had some competition.

Comments:
mmmm.... double decker supreme

Name: PeeR
Comments:
Man, i love those lofts. High in fiber, and so nutritious! Great article, man! :) Bring on the 24-hour gorditas baby!!!!