GAMBIER — The long-awaited opening of the expanded Peirce Hall dining has arrived. The renovation includes an expanded servery system to better serve the students, and an expanded dining area to supplement the Great Hall where students dined previous to the expansion.
Peirce Hall combines three three dining areas in one. Previously, Gund Commons and Ernst Center were also serving as student dining halls. Gund is to be turned into office space and possibly as a grab-and-snack center. The Ernst Center is scheduled to be demolished.
The opening has not been without problems, as perhaps can be expected with a system new to staff and students. Long lines and inadequate production space have been the main concerns.
The lack of production space could impact Kenyon’s Food For Thought program, which seeks to provide students with as much fresh, locally produced, high-quality food as possible. It was expected the new dining facility would be able to provide this service. But some concerns have been expressed that the new servery will not have adequate storage space and preparation room to fully implement the local food initiative.
“That’s not true,” said Bill Clapp, resident director of dining services at Kenyon. “There are some adjustments that we have to make. But it is just learning a new facility. We have to make sure we have things queued up in the right order and designate our refrigeration space. But we are committed to go ahead full force with the local food initiative.”
Howard Sacks, interim provost and professor of sociology at Kenyon, has been a moving force in Food For Thought. Sacks is optimistic about Peirce and local food programs for the college.
“I would say this is the first facility of its kind to be designed, from the back dock to the servery, explicitly to facilitate and maximize the use of local food in the country,” he said. “I think we are going to be in good shape [to store and prepare local food]. Certainly, supply is a whole other issue. But there is cold storage space. There’s a small flash freezer in the building. Obviously we’re gearing up for this and how this will work logistically. We’ll have to see how it works over the next several months as we get a routine going. But it’s much expanded over the capabilities of the old facility.”
Sacks did not discount the possibility that at some time in the future the facilities might not be up to the task.
“Is it conceivable that down the road we have the opportunity to do so much local food that we would need additional facilities beyond the dining hall? Sure,” he said.
As far as day-to-day service is concerned, students seem to be satisfied with the new facility. Aside from some long lines the first day or two, students said they have had no problems with the service, and gave the food a thumbs up.
“I think it’s really state of the art,” said junior Michael Shay. “The architecture is beautiful and it’s a big step up from our old dining hall at Ernst. The only problem I’ve encountered has been long lines at lunch time. But the food is far superior to what we used to get.”
As a freshman, Beth Lowry doesn’t have a comparison to go by, but she is impressed nonetheless.
“I wasn’t really around for the change, but the facilities are incredible and I’ve heard the changes are an entire 180 from what it was last year,” she said. “I am also excited for the plans to expand on the local food movement for the students.”
Still, there are some grumblings. Some of the dining services staff are less than pleased with the layout of the new servery.
AVI food Services employee Del Beltz was quoted in a story in the Kenyon Collegian as saying, “[The servery] was not made for production. It looks nice but there is nowhere [near] enough space for 1,600 students. They didn’t think things through.”
“[Peirce] is not designed to seat everybody at the same time,’ said Mark Ellis, Kenyon Public affairs news director. “Students have all different schedules and the line problem will be resolved over time.”
Clapp was in agreement that the problems were not unsolvable.
“Whenever you have a new building, there are always some issues you have to work through,” he said. “Just getting used to a new facility and a new service style takes some time. And we’ll work through them. We feel pretty good about it.”
