Andrew Crighton

News Editor

First time and returning students alike are being treated to a newly remodeled and upgraded dining experience inside of Turner Hall. Everything inside of the dining hall has been upgraded. The tables, chairs, decor and the food service stations have been completely changed.

These changes were approved in April 2016 by the State Board of Education. The $1,175,000 upgrade was paid for by Chartwells, the current holder of ISU’s dining contract.

Zak Macpherson is a freshman, and had a good first impression of The Commons, as it is now called. “I like it; it’s comfortable,” Macpherson said.

Jillian Christiansen is another ISU freshman who said that she liked how open the layout was. She said that it’s nice that there is a lot of room and it doesn’t seem that crowded for lunch, but added that it could be because not everyone has moved in yet.

All of the hot service lines have been pulled out and away from the kitchen, no longer forcing students to line up within the inlet next to the dish return like in years previous. The only hot food that is not served on this long counter is the pizza, which now has its own dedicated station, and is close to the now partitioned entrance register.

This new stand features a fire oven to bake the pizza in.

Jesse Wallace is a student and an employee of Chartwells, who was manning the new pizza station.

Wallace believes that the remodeling makes working in the dining room not only more enjoyable, but easier as well.

“[The upgrades] are amazing. The whole thing I believe is pretty darn fancy. It’s all in all an improvement,” said Wallace. “It’s all clean and pleasant and you can actually see people and talk to them and stuff.”

Ice cream, coffee and hot tea are all found on the backside of the pizza stand.

How open and spacious the layout is was noted by all of the students interviewed, including Bryanna Stever, a sophomore and Sarah Klivula, a freshman.

Stever noted that the food is pretty much the same as far she can tell, but added that it’s possible that something has changed in the long term and that it was only her third day in the dining hall so far this year.

One major improvement is the dish return system. Prior to the changes, dirty dishes were placed on a conveyor belt that would often become overloaded and get backed up. This has been replaced by a large, multilayered carousel where dishes are placed on one of many racks and then taken back into the kitchen area.

The only complaint that Stever and Klivula could think of is that some of the self service food, like the salad bar might be a little far out of reach. 

The new salad bar is in the same general location, but the fountain drinks and breakfast cereal have been moved to fa right-hand wall.