During the week of Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, OU students were notified the operating hours of Hillcrest Dining Hall would be significantly reduced.
Hillcrest Dining Hall will be open from 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. during the week and closed entirely on weekends — too late for breakfast and too early for dinner.
Robert King, the Senior Director of University Housing, stated in an email the choice to slash Hillcrest’s hours came from “data on dining hall patron traffic,” and “the team identified the hours of 11:30-4:30 p.m. as the hours of greatest need in Hillcrest at this time.”
King also indicates the reduced hours at Hillcrest are not meant to stay.
“Our goal is to move toward expanded hours at the Hillcrest location and to create the best operational schedule for our residents,” King said. “We will continue to gather student feedback and monitor foot traffic and will modify hours as needed throughout the year.”
Based on King’s email, students may see Hillcrest’s hours change throughout the year. Whether or not these changes will be any better or worse than the current change remains to be seen.
Students like sophomore Rachel Rossman will be unable to rely on Hillcrest Dining Hall for two-thirds of her meals. She will instead have to visit restaurants in the Oakland Center (OC) or travel to Vandenberg Dining Hall if she wants more than a convenience store breakfast or any kind of dinner.
“It makes me upset because I’m only realistically going to be able to have one meal per day,” Rossman said. “There’s a zero percent chance of me having more than one, in fact, since practice doesn’t end until 6 p.m.”
Marc Lacey, a sophomore and the Vice President of the Gaming Guild at OU, feels he’s not getting everything he paid for out of Hillcrest with the recent shift in the dining hall’s hours.
“It’s messed up that we who reside in Hillcrest have to pay the same amount of money while not being able to use what we are being owed 100%,” Lacey said.
Lacey also listed the fact that Hillcrest Dining Hall is more accessible for disabled people compared to Vandenberg as another reason why he’s disappointed with the recent changes.
“Now you’re interfering with people’s disabilities, as well,” Lacey said.
OU Eats has pinned a post on their Instagram reminding students The Hive convenience store has plenty of options for breakfast.
“Meal bundle selections include assorted hot sandwiches, bars, cereals, oatmeal and more.”
Rae Williams, a Graphic Design student at OU, says,
“For what [The Hive] offers, it’s good for now. It won’t replace everything [Hillcrest Hall offered for breakfast],” Williams said.
