By Julia Lawrenz | Broadcast Reporter
On-campus dining is amazing: It’s quick, convenient and easy when you are in a rush. However, I believe students should be able to choose or at least have a say when it comes to what retail dining is offered on Baylor’s campus.
Currently the retail dining includes Panda Express, Chick-Fil-A, Freshii, Steak ‘n Shake, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, Common Grounds, Heritage and the newest addition, Slow Rise Pizza.
Baylor has quite a few options for students chose from, but are they really what the students want? From my personal standpoint, I have never heard someone say “Wow, I just had a great lunch at Freshii,” or “Freshii is so good, you should go there sometime.” On the contrary, there is always a line at Chick-Fil-A, suggesting the Baylor community enjoys it.
Entering the 2018-2019 school year, Einstein Bros. Bagels was taken out of the Bill Daniel Student Center. After everyone got back to campus at the start of the school year, there was such shock and confusion as to why Einstein Bros. Bagels would have left when everyone loved it. After the bagel shop was removed from the SUB, Common Grounds took its place. The problem with Common Grounds in the SUB is that it is literally a four-minute walk from the original off-campus Common Grounds location. So, why would we need two of the same coffee shops a few minutes apart? We already have two Starbucks locations on campus. This would total to four coffee shops in a small radius.
This change could have been put to a vote for students to choose.
I understand that there is a committee of people on Student Government who comes to make these decisions. However, that is such a small representation of who Baylor is. A reasonable compromise could be that at the end of each school year there could be a questionnaire on Canvas about the use of on-campus dining and where students go and don’t go. Every student has access to Canvas and this would be a simple way to reach out to students for their opinions. I understand that there are contracts with the retail restaurants; however, this can give Baylor the option the re-evaluate what is on campus and what students would rather have.
I believe this would be a great opportunity for Baylor to give students a voice. Although retail dining is such a small part of what Baylor is, this would give students an opportunity to have a say in what they like and don’t in order to make this big university into more of a tight-knit family.
