"Let's do lunch," soon may be a more frequently used phrase among University students and faculty members.
In a survey recently issued to University faculty regarding the establishment of a faculty dining option, preliminary findings indicate that "people are interested in [having] faculty dining," Faculty Senate Chairwoman Patricia H. Werhane said.
Over 250 University faculty members responded to the survey, which was due March 9.
The goal of the survey was to "gauge the interest from faculty for a new faculty dining facility, and to find what elements were important to them if such a facility existed," said Rodney Hicks, a graduate student at the Darden School who is heading the initiative with Scott Potter, a fellow Darden graduate student.
"As we expected, there is a significant interest in a dining facility for the faculty," Hicks said.
"The most important data we received regarded dining options, location and wants," he said.
But more specific information about the findings will not be available until sometime next week when compilation of the results is complete and Hicks and Potter present their findings to Faculty Senate members.
Former Faculty Senate Chairman David T. Gies said the need for a faculty dining room "has been known for several years," when faculty members first proposed the idea for the Garden Room in 1997.
The Garden Room, which was located in Hotel E on the West Range, functioned as a full-service restaurant that served lunches to students, faculty, administrators and their guests, with the idea of promoting intellectual exchange. It was forced to close before the fall 2000 semester because it did not receive high enough patronage.
"The University was never able to provide a service at the right price and quality that faculty and students desired," Gies said.
But this "shouldn't be an impossible thing to do" and if the University builds a dining facility and "it's decent," faculty will use it, he said.
He specifically noted and commended the efforts of the Arts and Sciences Council in initiating the Cavalier Card in 1997, which allows students to take professors out to a free lunch both on Grounds or on the Corner.
"When the Garden Room closed, the use of the Cavalier Card dropped off," and now is used about once a month, said Lauren Purnell, Arts and Sciences Council treasurer and president-elect.
In light of its infrequent use, the Cavalier Card was replaced with a similar card as part of the Corner Meal plan. The new card has "been popular," Purnell said.
While Gies supports such programs that encourage professor-student contact, he said he still thinks "it is important to have a dining service that is a centrally located place [on Grounds] where faculty and students can congregate for business, or not, for quick, simple, reasonably priced" meals.
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