After concerns of overcrowding in the dining hall at dinner, Dinning Services this year has instituted changes to ease congestion. No, they did not add more seating, nor did they expand the dining hall in any way. Instead, they changed the Spa hours. The Spa is now open from 11am to 7pm, Monday through Friday, while last year their weekday daytime hours were 9:30am to 5:30pm (not including late night weekend hours, which is staying the same). Doing this “will offer another option for dinner and hopefully eliminate some of the crowding in the Dining Hall that exists” said Director of Dinning Services, Mark Miller.
Due to the altered Spa hours, the Skidmore community has lost an on-campus breakfast option. Miller said that they “have noticed an increase in some guests at breakfast in the Dining Hall” and said they can easily accommodate this increase. Miller did not see any new issues in regards to a potential influx of patrons at the Burgess Café, saying it “has always been busy.”
Your early morning coffee at the Spa is no longer an option; however, Dining Services has added additional morning coffee options. They installed “another Starbucks vending unit in the Athletic Center where guests can get three varieties of freshly brewed Starbucks coffee and hot cocoa using a credit card or their Skid-Cards,” said Miller.
In addition to the new coffee vending unit, there are new dinner options, lunch and dinner specials and new grab and go items (for example, a new Chobani yogurt and fruit bar) now offered at the Spa. Food options at the Atrium have also been increased.
There was also another change in Dining Service hours. The Burgess Café now closes at 1 a.m. instead of 2 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. Cerri Banks, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs, said in an email to all Skidmore students that this change was made because “we have found that during that hour [1am to 2am] we serve almost no customers and staffing is a considerable challenge.” The one-hour earlier closure will allow Skidmore to “use our staff resources more effectively and to better serve the students and our community,” said Banks. A new semester always brings about change and hopefully these changes to Dinning Services hours will be worth the new products they are able to offer.