Part of belonging to a small campus community is the lack of resources available after business hours. However, with the addition of campus housing in 2008 and constant renovations to IU South Bend’s current resources, that’s all about to change.
Before the spring semester commenced, IUSB’s Courtside Café, located on the main floor of the Student Activities Center, was the only place hungry Titans could fill their stomachs after 2 p.m. But after a proposal from the Student Government Association (SGA), students can now dine at the Grille for an extra half hour, Monday through Thursday.
Steve Rose, director of IUSB dining services, said he had tried the extended hour in the past. He was inspired to extend it once more because he noticed the Courtside Café was becoming swamped with business right before its closing at 2 p.m..
“There are a lot of students that get out at 2 and [Courtside Café] gets slammed,” Rose said. “It’s hard to get through; we wanted to alleviate a little pressure. At around 2:30 it drops off, so it gives students a chance to grab something.”
Rose said the fiscal commitments to keeping the Grille open for an extra hour play into the issue. But he feels between the extra time the Grille is open and the later hours of the Courtside Café, students will have adequate time to grab a meal.
Rose also added that with the renovations being made to the auditorium portion of Northside Hall, there are talks that a new dining court will replace the Northside Café, which has not been open this entire school year.
In addition to more options for dining in the near future, the way students get their work done will drastically change as well.
According to Joe Bazzell of the SGA, one of the most-requested features on campus was for students to have a place to study and compute 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Students’ needs and desires are the SGA’s concerns, and a work order has been submitted for such a place. Bazzell said the quiet, glassed-in lounge of the Grille has been requested to be open at all times. And not just during finals, like Greenlawn Hall typically is for the week of exams.
According to a spokesperson for the Information Technologies department, a few new computers have been added to the lounge to accommodate space for the students who will likely take advantage of this new campus feature.
The rumors have been flying around campus, and the idea of a quiet place to study away from home has students buzzing.
Junior Grace Padgett says with her graphic design major she often needs to spend a lot of quiet time at school to stay on task and get her projects done.
“The problem with working at home is that there are just so many distractions,” Padgett said. “With this new place, I won’t be tempted to do something around the house.”
Other students feel this change is long overdue.
Bridget Hungerford, a sophomore, was surprised when she enrolled two years ago that the campus did not already have this feature.
“I thought with a school that is gaining as much popularity [as IUSB is] that something like this would already have been available,” Hungerford said.
The SGA could not comment on how long it would take for the work to be done to make the study lounge final, but they hope it will be before the end of the school year.
The Grille’s extended hours also run until the end of the semester. Rose encourages students to try the Grille’s food selection often as he says they are varied and are a good value.
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