Dining Halls Will Open for Lunch 30 Minutes Earlier To Accommodate New Class Schedule

Harvard’s undergraduate dining halls will now open 30 minutes earlier for lunch on weekdays to accommodate the new academic schedule adopted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Each of the dining halls in the 12 upperclassmen residential Houses and the first-year dining hall, Annenberg, will open at 11:30 a.m. instead of 12 p.m. effective Thursday, according to Harvard University Dining Services.

“HUDS recognized that the new class schedule, including a noontime class, was making it challenging for some students to have lunch in the dining hall,” Harvard University Dining Services spokesperson Crista Martin wrote in an email. “As such, HUDS adjusted our lunchtime opening hours by 30 minutes.”

Upperclassmen will still have the option to grab food through Fly-By, a weekday bagged lunch service, from 11:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.and all undergraduates may continue to order bagged meals before 4 a.m. for same-day pickup, Martin added.

Michael S. Uy, the Dunster House resident dean, informed Dunster residents of the change via email Thursday.

“We've heard from many of you that if you have classes scheduled 12-2.45pm, then you are hard pressed to eat lunch,” he wrote. “So we've listened, and HUDS has now extended its hours (effective today) so that lunch will be served beginning at 11.30am.”

Under the new scheduling rules, many seminars are scheduled to meet from 12 to 2:45 p.m., overlapping entirely with the previous lunch slot. By opening the dining halls earliers, HUDS hopes students who must attend class during that time will still be able to eat lunch, according to Martin.

Alexandra N. Ratzker ’19, who is enrolled in a seminar that meets from 12 noon to 2:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, said she was pleased by change.

“I think that opening the dining halls a half an hour early to accommodate students who have class from 12-2:45 p.m. is certainly helpful,” Ratzker said. “I personally will likely go to the dining hall at 11:30 a.m.”

But she added that, going forward, she believes 165-minute classes such as her seminar should not meet midday.

“I think that, for future semesters, the schedule should be altered so that classes of that length don’t meet during that block,” Ratzker said.

Upperclassmen dining halls and Annenberg Hall, the freshman dining hall, close for lunch at 2:15 p.m. Cabot, Currier, and Pforzheimer House dining halls close at 2:30 p.m.

—Staff writer Meena Venkataramanan can be reached at meena.venkataramanan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mvenk82.