In mid-August at the brink of the fall 2023 semester, Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Stephen McAfee announced SUNY Oswego’s new dining center hours. Despite half of the Auxiliary Services Board of Directors being composed of  numerous students,  including myself, I express concern. However, with the possibility of  staffing issues and operational factors unknown to students, it is crucial to make considerations beyond optimal student convenience.  

Fortunately for west campus residents, hot breakfast will only  be available at Pathfinder starting at 7 a.m. Lakeside and Cooper  dining halls will open half an hour later with continental breakfast  options. This contrasts with last year when Cooper dining hall opened the earliest and offered a full breakfast. Being located on  central campus, Cooper offering the most versatile hours is logical,  especially since most students taking advantage of an early  breakfast do so prior to classes. Cooper’s location is within the convenient range of most academic buildings. For east and central campus residents, 7:30 a.m. dining hall openings may not provide ample  time to eat and attend classes on time. Perhaps professors can blame scrambled eggs for late attendance.  

There is also concern that students will not have equal access  to various means to fulfill dietary preferences. With Pathfinder offering a full breakfast service, west campus residents enjoy more options with the same continental items offered at other dining centers. To me, it seems purely logical that the Central Campus dining hall, Cooper would be  selected for this purpose. Doing so would afford most students the fairest location of meal options while only requiring one dining hall to run full service.  

However, students express the most frustration with late night  dining being served exclusively at Cooper. Last year, with the  exception of Friday and Saturday, Pathfinder and Lakeside hosted  late night dinners simultaneously. Although it is a heavily utilized service  among students, the operation of two locations aided in crowd  management. With only one dining hall catering to all late-night attendants, lines frequently surpass the stairs and flood the ground floor hallway. Long lines were also commonplace last year, but given  the popularity of the service, multiple options were preferred, as students could gauge crowds and decide which location they wished to visit.  

In airing these grievances, it is important to acknowledge the  limited understanding of most SUNY Oswego students, excluding  dining hall employees, members of the Auxiliary Services Board of  Directors and those having insight into these matters by association   with the prior two bodies. Many assume that the skewed dining hall hours are due to staffing issues in these facilities Many students can likely recall  seeing signs in Cooper seeking employees to ensure the operation of late night services. Admittedly in its conception, considerations  such as these were excluded. Yet, like most matters, there are most likely factors that the community is unaware of. In reality, what can be seen as a frustrating outcome may truly be the best possible result in a situation of non ideal conditions coupled with pure intentions.Though merely a school-wide controversy, understanding that we lack the whole picture is a crucial consideration when forming opinions and debating results.

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