THE UNIVERSITY'S Dining Services should be commended for going out of their way to answer the needs of a particular group of students who will have exams on Saturday, May 6.
One of the inconveniences of being a first-year student is having to rely on University dining halls for sustenance. Like vampires and zoo animals, first- year students must learn to eat on a set schedule determined by someone else's judgment. There's still a good deal of freedom here, but once in a while scheduling conflicts come up that demand special attention. One particular bit of scheduling trouble will make its semi-yearly appearance during the coming exam time. Thankfully the dining halls have spotted this problem and are doing something productive to counteract it.
Many know the pain of having to get up early to do some day-long activity on a weekend and end up going without breakfast because of the dining halls' later opening time on Saturdays and Sundays. This inconvenience, for the most part, is tolerated and understandable. On most weekend mornings there are very few early risers in need of breakfast. Opening the dining halls at 7 a.m. on normal weekend mornings would be wasteful.
However, on Saturday, May 6 there will be a large number of hungry students rising early for 9 a.m. exams. Because of the obliging efforts of the dining halls, these stalwart weekend test-takers will have the opportunity for a decent pre-examination continental breakfast before the usual weekend brunch begins. Those students who feared that they would have to go hungry the day of their Saturday exam due to the weekend dining schedule should welcome these extended morning hours with open arms.
The dining halls have shown that they are in tune with the schedules of students and that they really will take actions to answer a reasonable request. A willingness to solve this Saturday exam problem should be praised with applause and favorable attitudes towards University dining for going the extra mile in the name of the students.
This favorable course of action will save many from the agony of doing work without a good breakfast under their belts. It also will eliminate the embarrassment of growling tummies during exams and the preoccupation with food that accompanies people's thoughts when working on an empty stomach.
The problem of finding an early breakfast on Saturday mornings is not exclusively a dining service issue. All first-year students are required to purchase a meal plan, so obviously the University places an importance on keeping its students healthy and well fed for class. The scheduling of exams on Saturday mornings defeats this purpose if no meals are available for students beforehand. The University's dining hall staff recognizes this problem and has made sure that something is done to fix it.
It is only fair to the students that a meal be provided for them if they are made to take a test at such an inconvenient time. Otherwise, the administration has no business scheduling exams at times when students invariably will have empty stomachs.
Aside from the occasional box of Pop Tarts or a few over-ripe O'Hill bananas found in the typical first-year student's dorm room, there isn't really anything else outside of the dining halls that can pass for a decent breakfast. Students essentially depend on the dining halls for their wellbeing. Every once in a while, circumstances come along that remind everyone that the University's dining services are here to serve the students.
All students have the right to a good breakfast before being forced to take an exam. It is what they pay for with their meal plans. Saturday exams are annoying, but they're a necessary evil. Otherwise, the end-of-semester testing period would spill over to the next week. The University's dining services makes this possible by answering the simple needs of the students and their stomachs.
Overall, the University does a good job of keeping the student population well fed. For exceptions like Saturday exam days, the dining service is very wise to show flexibility and work to solve this problem. They seized a great opportunity to go the extra mile and show their dedication to the students by providing an early meal for those unfortunate souls who have exams on Saturday.
Applause is in order for the dining services' flexibility and attention to student concerns. One week from now, there will be a lot of happy test takers stuffed with a good dining hall continental breakfast. A good deed has been done, and a number of growling stomachs will be quieted.
(Maverick McNeel's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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