Alexandria Galtney
Staff Writer
The Legacy Food Court and Heritage Dining Hall are the places to be for students, faculty and staff who want to grab a quick bite to eat between classes and during lunch hour, but lately the quick grab and go has turned into a check-out and seating waiting game.
During the lunch hours, students and employees are caught long lines that sometimes result in the need to find other lunch options. Complaints about long checkout lines and the limited seating in both the Legacy and Heritage Dining Hall, also have some students wanting more accommodations.
The Legacy, which is host to The Bistro 1877, Pizza Hut Express, Chick-fil-A Express, 34 Payton Place, Market Place at Legacy and Simply to Go, holds a capacity of 320 persons.
Heritage Dining Hall, which is host to a wide variety of fresh food designed to satisfy everyone’s appetite with a variety of food choices that are “all you can eat,” has a capacity of 425 students.
All undergraduate residential students housed on campus, per housing agreement, are required to have a meal plan.
According to Kamesha Hill, director of Contractual Services, there are currently 2,520 students that have meal plans that reside on campus and there are 101 commuter students with meal plans.
The increased enrollment of students with meal plans can make the checkout process long and frustrating. However, dining services employees stated that they are trying to keep up with the number of orders received and keep the line moving as fast as possible. Limited seating in the dining areas is posing the biggest problem.
Kamesha Hill, director of Contractual Services at Jackson State University said, “The university and Sodexo Magic are assessing the options for increasing seating through cost efficient strategies to meet the demands of our growing student population. Sodexo Magic hires staff as needed to accommodate the changing dynamics of dining at the university.”
The university has also expressed hiring more employees to help with the over population in students.
“Jackson State University Dining Services by Sodexo Magic have taken steps and have hired adequate staff for dining halls,” said Hill.
Elsie Stoxstill, a sophomore business management major from Jonestown, Miss., said, “It becomes frustrating because it’s an everyday thing. Some improvements (to dining services) are to actually listen to the student’s complaints who are paying rather then assume what’s the right way to solve the issue.”
Other students believe that the university is doing the best they can with the limited amount of space they have in both dining halls.
“In the mist of SuperCard and Tiger-bucks season, management is doing a great job with the lines, however, one great thing that will decrease time in the line is the increase in time of the vendors being open. I believe that if the vendors stay open longer, more customers will have time and room to enjoy their food,” said Gregory Smith, a sophomore elementary education major from Jackson, Miss.
Some students believe that if they did not have to purchase meal plans they do not want, the lines would also be shorter for those who would like to use dining services.
The hours of operation for the Legacy are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The hours of operation for Heritage Dining Hall are Monday through Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
