HUDS Postpones Summer Renovations

Residents of Dunster, Mather and Quincy will continue to look enviously at other House dining halls, as renovations have been put on hold until at least the summer of 2004.

According to Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) officials, unplanned summer renovations to a Quad dining hall exhausted any resources that might have been used to renovate one of the three dining halls this summer.

HUDS Director of Marketing and Communitcations Alix E. McNitt said HUDS had originally intended to renovate only two of the Quad’s dining halls, but later decided to add the third for cost-efficiency.

Many students in Houses with older dining halls have anxiously anticipated renovations, which they say have improved the ambience and food quality in the nine Houses that have been renovated since 1997; Adams House’s dining hall was the first to be renovated that year.

Regarding their own dining halls, however, McNitt said that students in Dunster, Mather and Quincy expressed a variety of concerns about food quality on feedback cards issued by HUDS this November.

“We have the lowest satisfaction survey results yet they do nothing about it,” said Eric M. Black ‘04 of Quincy House.

In an effort to compensate for the older facilities, Dunster, Mather and Quincy host special culinary displays twice a week, which include made-to-order entrees that supplement the regular menu.

Quincy resident Tripti Thapa ’04 said she enjoys the special items, which have included crepes, seafood, and pasta dishes.

“For me, it’s pretty exciting,” she said.

But despite these efforts, many students remain unappeased.

“There were rumors since I was a freshman that Quincy would be renovated,” said Brian T. Cantwell ’04.

HUDS managers said they expected disappointment even at the outset of the renovations in 1997, as the last Houses to be renovated would inevitably have inferior facilities toward the end of the process.

“When we began we knew that the best facilities would feel like the worst facilities once the worst facilities had been renovated,” said HUDS Executive Director Ted A. Mayer.

HUDS executives said they are hopeful that they can resume renovations in 2004. The date and House chosen for the next renovation have not been confirmed yet, but will be announced in March, Mayer said.

“It really comes down to finances,” said McNitt. “We are looking forward to renovating the remaining places as much as the students are.”

HUDS managers said that dining hall renovations have greatly affected students’ residential experience.

“The perception of the students regarding the quality of food and the ambience goes way up and the renovations are a big part of that,” Mayer said.

In addition, food preparation is also different in the renovated dining halls. Stoves are placed in the serving areas and food is prepared and served in smaller quantities, increasing freshness.

In Mather House, food is cooked on a floor lower than the serving area and must be brought upstairs to be served, increasing students’ waiting time and decreasing food quality, Mayer said.

—Staff writer Faryl W. Ury can be reached at ury@fas.harvard.edu.