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For most students, spring break marks a week's vacation away from campus. But not everyone elects to leave their institution. The University of Connecticut is accommodating -- and feeding -- those students that decide to stay on campus for spring break by opening the doors of a campus dining hall.
As reported by The Daily Campus, students must first sign up online for the meals they anticipate needing during the course of the week. The meal plan is limited to one breakfast, lunch and dinner per day starting Saturday, March 10, through Saturday, March 17, with meals being served from the university's Northwest Dining Hall.
According to UConn dining services, only meal plan swipes are accepted as part of the initiative, as both Flex passes and points are inactive during spring break. The spring break dining accommodations are an annual offering, with about 250 students signing up every year.
“So much of it is tied to there being simply some students who can’t get home or don’t have a vacation planned,” said Mike White, Director of Residential Dining, in a Daily Campus interview.
The university is opening just the one dining hall for spring break diners both because it adequately serves the number of students, as well as accommodates other scheduled conference events that will be utilizing campus dining facilities during spring break. The hours of operation during spring break include three dining windows: breakfast 7:00am - 9:30am; lunch 11:30am - 2:15pm; dinner 4:15pm - 7:15pm.
“Prior to every break, I evaluate our operational needs based on conferences, students still on campus and then the size of the dining hall,” White said. “The one thing we are trying to always do is be aware of our expenses, the size of the building versus what we really need.”
In addition to the spring break program, UConn Dining Services maintains a similar initiative during the Thanksgiving break period in November.
