Purdue News
Purdue News
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September 1, 2000 Purdue to spend $48 million to upgrade student diningWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue's Board of Trustees today (9/1) approved a six-year, $48 million plan to upgrade and streamline the university's residence halls dining facilities. "The plan offers students more choices and flexibility," said John Sautter, vice president for housing and food services. "When we are done, students will be able to eat what they want, when they want it. They will have a wide variety of choices in service and food, many of which can be prepared specifically for each individual." Purdue staff has spent several years researching and studying the renovation plans. When the work is finished, Purdue will have five state-of-the-art dining facilities and six cash/retail operations across campus. "This is the most extensive overhaul of our dining facilities ever," Sautter said, "so we've approached it carefully. We've sought student input through focus groups and surveys, benchmarked with similar universities, and considered a variety of alternatives, as well as taken into account needs for people with disabilities. Based on this information, we have learned that students want choices and don't mind traveling a reasonable distance to access those choices. Students will still be able to use their Dining Dollars, cash amounts that automatically come with their chosen meal plan, to make purchases in any of the new dining facilities or cash operations." The project will be funded by bonds, repaid with accumulated savings from consolidation and increased efficiency of operations over the six-year period. Beyond a typical, annual room and board rate increase, students will not realize any additional rate increase to pay for the project, Sautter said. "Because University Residences is self-supporting, we worked very hard to make sure the students would not experience additional price increases to pay for the dining service improvements," Sautter said. Although the revised food service operations will require fewer employees, no layoffs are expected, Sautter said. "We'll be working on the renovations over a six-year period, and in that time there should be enough attrition to prevent laying off anyone currently on staff," Sautter said. The work will be done in phases: • McCutcheon Hall dining did not reopen this fall. • Earhart Hall dining will close for renovations in May and reopen in early 2003. • Shreve Hall dining will close permanently once Earhart is complete. • Tarkington Hall dining will close for renovations in May 2002 and reopen in early 2004. • Wiley Hall dining will close permanently once Tarkington is finished. • Windsor Hall dining will close for renovations in May 2003 and reopen in early 2005. • Meredith Hall and Harrison Hall dining will be converted to cash/retail operations once Windsor reopens. • Construction of a free-standing dining commons located between Cary Quadrangle and Owen Hall is planned to begin in May 2004 with anticipated completion in spring 2006. • Owen Hall will be converted to cash/retail operations in 2006. • Cary Quad dining will close and the current cash/retail operation will be expanded in 2006. • Hillenbrand Hall will remain open throughout the process. • Cash/retail operations will remain in Hillenbrand and Hawkins Graduate House. Source: John Sautter, (765) 494-1000 Writer: Jeanne V. Norberg, (765) 494-2084; jnorberg@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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