Hedrick breakfast may go away due to low turnout

By Marion Wise
Daily Bruin Contributor

Despite the inconvenience for residents of Hedrick Hall and
Hitch Suite, Hedrick dining facility may discontinue serving
breakfast spring quarter due to low student attendance.

While Dining Services administrators continue to weigh the
options, students and Hedrick personnel are upset they
weren’t notified of the possible change in a timely manner so
they could offer their input.

“We’re not firm yet,” said Charles Wilcots,
assistant director of Dining Services. “We are looking at how
we can maximize efficiency.”

But first-year undeclared student and Hedrick resident Alanya
Blake said Dining Services should notify students of the possible
change.

“The dining hall people won’t tell us that they
might close Hedrick for breakfast until spring quarter because they
think that students are less likely to protest if they don’t
find out until then,” Blake said. “It’s my guess
that it’ll happen.”

On average, fewer than 200 students eat breakfast at Hedrick
each morning, compared with more than 700 at Covel Commons.

Wilcots said that because of these low numbers, Dining Services
is considering closing Hedrick for a three-month trial, while
extending Rieber’s breakfast hours until 10 a.m. and
maintaining Covel and Puzzles’ Eatery’s morning
hours.

Currently, Hedrick and Rieber serve breakfast from 7-9 a.m.
Covel is open 7 to 10 a.m., and Puzzles is open 7-10:45 a.m.

Though students will still have several options for breakfast,
students such as Hedrick Dining and Environment Board
Representative Jill Alderson are disappointed that Dining Services
is considering closing Hedrick’s breakfast services.

“I can understand why they’re doing this, but I
think they need to find a different solution to help us at
Hedrick,” Alderson said. “To me, breakfast is the most
important meal of the day, and it means getting a sack lunch,
instead of spending $7 on campus.”

Hedrick’s dining and environment board, which addresses
issues regarding dining, housekeeping and maintenance, did not
discuss the possible closure of Hedrick for breakfast at its most
recent meeting on March 5.

At the time of the meeting, Hedrick’s dining manager, who
facilitates the dining portion of the meeting, had no specific
knowledge that Hedrick might not serve breakfast, according to
Alderson. Alderson learned of the possible closure from her
floor’s external vice president, who discussed it at the
Hedrick Hall Association meeting that night.

In later discussions with Hedrick’s dining manager,
Alderson heard the staff had no input in Hedrick’s possible
closure.

“He’d been hearing about it, but it was supposed to
be hush-hush,” Alderson said.

“He said that his staff is upset by it, because a lot of
people like the morning shift,” she continued. “It
wasn’t like they decided ““ it was decided for them.
They had no say.”

Even if Hedrick does not serve breakfast next quarter, Wilcots
said the dining staff will not change.

“It doesn’t affect employment at all,” Wilcots
said. “We’ll shift our employee-base.”

Stephanie Elson, who was employed by Dining Services in November
and worked at Hedrick since the beginning of March, learned of the
possible change in a letter Dining Services sent employees early
last week.

“They just said that they’re not going to be open
for breakfast anymore,” Elson said.

“I think they’re going to switch everyone’s
hours around,” she continued.

Although Dining Services had no direct input from students or
staff in making their decision, it meets with the Policy Review
Board weekly to discuss situations affecting students.

The PRB is comprised of student representatives from each
residence hall, and the heads of the dining, housing and
maintenance divisions.

Third-year computer science student Jakub Oleksy, who chairs the
PRB, said the board gives input to Dining Services, but is not
directly involved in the decision-making process.

“Dining will probably make their decisions based on the
numbers,” Oleksy said. “Even if they do change it, I
won’t say that it’s final. Dining’s always really
good at listening to what we need. They’re really looking out
for the best interest of everybody.

“In the long run, it might be very beneficial, but if
it’s not, I’m sure that dining and PRB will do
everything they can,” Oleksy continued.

Wilcots agreed, saying Dining Services aim to please
students.

“We’re pretty committed to our guests,”
Wilcots said. “Currently, residents on The Hill can eat
between 7 a.m. to midnight.”

Though she understands the view of Dining Services, Alderson
said she hopes they will listen to student perspectives.

“My impression is that we do have a say in the final
outcome, but as of right now, I think they’d be more inclined
to stick with their initial choice,” Alderson said.
“From a business standpoint, their decision makes sense, but
from a student’s viewpoint, it’s unfair.”

AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS AT BREAKFAST
Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by HERNANE
TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff