Over the course of 100 years, many aspects of John Carroll’s campus have morphed and grown as student needs change. One example of this change comes with the Schott Dining Hall, which has been renovated and multiple dining services have worked to bring food and service to each student with failures and successes.
Back in 1926, a lounge was created at the back of the cafeteria to accommodate more students in the space, especially considering high school students were allowed to enter the cafeteria to get food. Now, faculty and families are the guests in the dining hall. There is plenty of space to accommodate every person who wishes to eat there, even though that space isn’t always available.
In 1960, Saga was the food provider for John Carroll and tended to close the back of the dining hall during service hours. Similarly, last year Parkhurst Dining continuously closed the back half of the dining hall two hours before their closing time. As the JCU community began to grow even more, the dining hall struggled to keep up. The Carroll News staff back in the 60s noted that the cafeteria often had long lines for food and ran out of silverware and dishware for students to use. However, Parkhurst now utilizes disposable dishware when they are expecting larger crowds due to events or tour days.
Tour days tend to result in better food options for prospective students. A freshman during 1971 complained about the dining hall offering delicious food during orientation and then quickly deteriorating during regular operations. The student also explained that the dining hall was a dangerous place to eat because the food was inedible, a sentiment that is shared with a lot of students today.
Recently, students and parents have been outraged by the quality of food at the dining hall. Social media pages associated with John Carroll families have been filled with pictures of pink chicken and other improperly cooked meals. Students are complaining about getting food poisoning after eating at the cafeteria. However, Parkhurst Dining has made efforts to improve the quality of its food and service, such as making food sample pop-ups and adding a pick-up window at the Inn Between.
The “tween” was under fire in 1995 due to an increase in prices, but now students can use meal swipes instead of dining dollars to order at the Inn Between. All of the dining locations, including the Schott Dining Hall, Inn Between and Cubby have seen multiple renovations over the years, culminating to the services we have currently available. Although the food is not always comforting, students feel comfortable with the staff at the dining hall whenever they are there. Ayden Dabney ’27 says, “The caf workers are always welcoming and make my day with jokes and compliments and amazing service.”
Have JCU dining services always suffered controversy? It seems so. Have they attempted to improve over the years? Definitely. But there’s always room for further improvement.
