On Friday afternoon, the Seymour College Union was more lively than usual. Instead of getting an early start to their weekends after classes ended, students gathered in the Union Gallery. Tension filled the air as concerned students and staff members filled almost every seat. The Brockport Student Government (known on campus as BSG) senate meeting was about to start.
During last week’s senate meeting, representatives from Brockport Auxiliary Service Corporation, also known as BASC, presented a proposal for their plan to turn the Union into a second residential dining hall. These representatives included BASC Executive Director Bill MacNamara, Director of Dining Services Cathy Legacy, and Assistant Executive Director Anna Hintz.
MacNamara explained that this proposal was the result of concerns students submitted in the 2022 Campus Climate Survey. On the form, many students expressed that they wanted longer hours for on-campus dining options.
“The recommendation was to move to a primarily unlimited access dining model: two residential dining halls, let’s call it Harrison and Harrison 2.0.” MacNamara said. “And looking at the areas we wanted to do that second dining hall, The Square was determined to be the better place.”
BASC created their proposed dining strategic plan with a few key goals:
- Focusing on the quality, variety and diversity of food served
- Reviewing dining options
- Supporting student retention, a sense of belonging, and a high quality student experience
- Keeping the cost to students affordable
“Our job and our mission is to support the mission of the university,” MacNamara said. “In that it’s just making sure that we’re building on and adding to the student experience.”
The proposed unlimited dining plan model still offers options for on-campus townhome residents, commuter students, faculty and staff. In the presentation, MacNamara recognized their need for flexibility and affordability and introduced some examples of block meal plans.
The proposed example block meal plans, directly from the presentation, go as followed:
- 15 Block Meals, 90 Points
- 25 Block Meals, 225 Points
- 50 Block Meals, 100 Points
- 75 Block Meals, 125 Points
- 100 Block Meals, 125 Points
The strategic plan explained that the change for the dining hall would happen in multiple phases. Phase I includes moving the campus store into the Gallery. Next, in Phase II, a retail dining space would be created, and current places to eat in the Union, like Jitterbugs and Talons, would move to the bookstore’s previous location.
Then, Phase III, The Square would fully transition into a residential dining hall. The transition to a residential dining hall would see the removal of The Square’s open seating and the implementation of glass walls, dividing it from the Union.
With this transition, The Square would go from having open seating to being exclusively for students eating in the dining hall, where students would be required to use a meal swipe to enter.
The BASC Dining Strategic Plan not only calls for the implementation of a second residential dining hall, but for the closure of Brockway Dining Hall. During the meeting, MacNamara explained that the university’s plan is to eventually move the Hazen Center for Integrated Care to Brockway’s current location.
While the BASC Dining Strategic Plan addresses students’ concerns about the lack of dining options available with a wide variety of hours, it creates a larger issue: the elimination of a third space.
The Union is one of few spaces on Brockport’s campus that allow for informal social gatherings. Alongside the campus’ first spaces (residential halls) and second spaces (academic buildings and workplaces), Brockport’s third spaces are vital for student engagement and connections.
“If you’re not in the Union, or you don’t know anyone [who is], you live under a rock,” BSG Court Justice David Buyan said during the meeting. “There is nowhere else in this town that serves the third space for students.”
In preparation for last week’s senate meeting, the BSG created a survey to get students’ opinions on what they think is the best use for the Union.
At the meeting, BSG Social Arts Council Senator Theo Guth presented the results of the survey. About 400 students participated in the survey. 379 of these students, or 94 percent of those surveyed, had a question about the BASC Dining Strategic Plan.
In the survey, when students were asked what they use the Union for, 72 percent said they use it for studying or relaxing, 61 percent said they use it for attending club meetings or events, 91 percent said they use it for getting food or coffee and 80 percent said they use it for meeting friends and socializing.
When asked what they think the Union should be, 92 percent of students surveyed said a place for students to gather and study and 78 percent said a place for organizations to meet and hold campus events. Only 45 percent of those surveyed said the Union should be a hub for campus dining and retail.
100 students, or 25 percent of those surveyed, expressed that they want the Union to stay the same. Many of the students surveyed also want the Gallery to remain a space for student events, instead of turning into the bookstore’s newest location.
“Transforming the Gallery to be a campus bookstore seems very silly as there are only a few other large gathering rooms for clubs/events to utilize,” a student said in the survey.
“Why are you taking away the Gallery when there is already a limited space for clubs?” another student asked in the survey.
During his presentation, Guth explained the Gallery’s importance to campus clubs and organizations. According to myBrockport, a website that lists the events happening on campus – predominantly in the Union, over 16,000 events have been hosted by clubs and organizations in the Gallery in the past decade.
Brockport students expressed their concerns during the senate meeting, as well in the survey. Students voiced a variety of concerns to MacNamara and Legacy, from Harrison Dining Hall’s previously failed inspections and poor treatment of student workers to the lack of options available for students with dietary restrictions at Harrison Dining Hall compared to the consistent options currently available at The Square.
BSG members said they were pleased with the attendance of Friday’s meeting. Senate meetings happen every Friday in Union Room 119; this week, the senate meeting happened in the Gallery to accommodate the number of students who were anticipated to attend. BSG members hope it encourages student engagement at future senate meetings.
“You know, I was really impressed with the amount of students who came out to senate,” Buyan said. “Senate is one of those things that only student organization leaders come to, so I was really amazed by the amount of students who showed up.”
Friday’s high attendance added momentum to the fight to keep the Union as a third space for students. BSG members like Guth encourage students to continue to speak out to keep the momentum going.
“Now that we got a considerable amount of students to offer their voice, I think they [BASC] have a lot more to work with when considering how to best support the students,” Guth said.
The BASC Dining Strategic Plan is only a proposal, so the suggested changes aren’t officially set to happen. Last Friday’s meeting initiated a conversation between BASC and the student body, allowing BASC to better understand student’s needs.
