The dining services offered on campus are ever changing, with new additions like Moe’s being welcomed every few years. Now, with a growing student population, it is good to reevaluate our dining and see what could be done to make it a better experience for students.

This centers around Food-On-Demand (FOD), one of the campus’s two main dining halls that is already being looked at by the university. The recent decision to charge students for a takeout box at FOD was met with widespread criticism, leading some to believe that there will be more plans for the future of FOD.

While FOD is a good food option, and many students get a majority of their meals there, it could be worth it to start moving away from that style of dining. It offers a course-style meal, as opposed to the buffet-style at The Marketplace.

It is different, yes, but it is still the same Sodexo food that students can get across campus. There is nothing that makes it unique.

There are a few ways that the FOD dining option could be changed to give students another good dining choice on campus.

The first and most obvious would be to have another company come in and open a location there, similar to how Moe’s did. Something like a sandwich shop would give students a refreshing choice. It would also be more eye catching for new students making their college decisions.

Another option would be to offer students a diner experience, complete with everything that you’d find at a local, hometown diner. This could be open to both students and staff and be a place where they could get a quick coffee and meal.

With either of these choices, the most important thing is that it is a location that remains open later. With every dining location closing between 8-10 p.m. each day, students are left with slim choices late at night. WoW used to be open until 2 a.m., but that has not been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

As the university is looking to attract more students, it is time for a change to dining. While FOD is a popular option, there are ways it could be changed to become better for the students.