Graphic by Kinsey Ratzman ’21
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
With the announcement of the new Dining Commons, students were sent into an anxious frenzy. They took their worries to several social media platforms. I thought their complaints were premature, unfounded and dramatic. And yet, their presumptions were correct.
I did not realize how helpless circling the dining hall could make me feel or how utterly defeated I was when I thought I saw an empty table, just to notice a single coat claiming all the seats for its own. I did not realize how crowded one place could be at one time, or how anxiety-inducing the masses of people could be, from the lines stretching out of the dining hall to the people covering every square inch of the building inside, creating an overpowering cacophony of conversation.
As we all know, SuperBlanch during the rush hours is extremely overwhelming. The sheer amount of people in the dining hall can make it difficult to navigate. Lines for popular stations can take 20 minutes or more. According to the sign posted in SuperBlanch, there are only 1,640 seats for 2,200 students, and even if there were enough seats for everyone, no one wants to sit at the one seat left at a table full of strangers.
When the dining halls were separated, the intimacy of the setting created a culture in which it was expected to sit at tables with other students, even if you didn’t know them. Now, because of the size and organization of the Dining Commons, this expectation has been reversed.
In the past, I have ended up walking around for 30 minutes looking for a seat. I have sat with four people at a table for two. I have had only 10 minutes to eat because two of my classes are an hour apart and the lines took so long. I would go to the dining hall at a later time, but my schedule makes that impossible on most days.
I know that Kendade has available grab-and-go lunch options, but the crowds in Kendade are always massive, even if the lines move faster. As someone who gets easily overwhelmed in crowds, neither option is ideal. I have skipped lunch because just the thought of the massive rush was enough to make my hunger feel like less of a priority, and I know that other Mount Holyoke students have felt the same.
Most of us can remember that the crowds in Prospect and Wilder could be just as bad at peak hours, but I could always at least find a table, partially because the culture allowed you to sit with strangers. Additionally, having lived in Prospect, the idea of going downstairs in my own dorm to get food was not nearly as exhausting as the idea of walking for seven minutes to get food in a place with even more people. I could also go to a different dining hall if I did not feel like I could handle the crowds.
All my troubles have begged the question: was this all worth it? I understand the benefits of centralized dining — more food options, creating a community space, wasting less food, etc. — but at the same time, if these benefits come at the cost of people feeling overwhelmed, rushed or anxious to the point that eating is too much for them, then I do not think switching to centralized dining was worth it. At least, not now, when the administration has not yet changed the schedule so that the lunch rush is manageable and has not yet implemented a grab-and-go option at SuperBlanch. I also think that opening up the door between Blanch and SuperBlanch could help reduce the size of the crowds, as long as we are allowed to take our food into Blanch. Maybe implementing these changes will improve the dining experience at Mount Holyoke, but for now, the crowds at SuperBlanch are too much to handle.