Though hordes of students may at times test the Danforth University Center’s maximum occupancy limits, Washington University alum Katrina Marshall loves the building—and the crowds that come with it.

Sitting on a cushioned chair on the first floor of the center at 10 a.m. with a low buzz of activity behind her that was sure to escalate as the day went on, Marshall praised the background noise. In fact, she said, the noisier the better.

“This is something students needed,” Marshall, who graduated in 2006 and finished her tenure as a University admissions officer on Wednesday, said. “It encourages students to gather. It builds community. If you stand up on one of the top railings, you look down and see people smiling, yelling. It feels like a campus to me.”

If its objective is to make students gather, the Danforth University Center (DUC) may have succeeded in its purpose, having served lunch to 2,700 people between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday. Students said they enjoyed the food, but not the cafeteria’s wait.
Junior Greg Booth, who works as a guide for lost students in the DUC, said that when he went to get a meal, the line stretched through the cafeteria and out of the building. Some students said they had to wait up to 15 minutes for their meals.

“Luckily I came five minutes before the hour, so I got my food real quickly,” Booth said. “I think kids will just learn to come at different times and try out different options for lunch. Hopefully students will learn to time it better.

After a week in which lunch lines have filled the eating area and the tables remain crowded through much of the afternoon, Bon Appétit officials are in the process of rearranging the lines to streamline the traffic, and will centralize the cash registers. Another cook will also come to the salad bar, the DUC’s busiest food station.

Despite the eatery’s growing pains, Food Court Manager George Scott is so far satisfied with the cafeteria.

“Hopefully everyone will understand where to go,” he said. “The speed of service with what we have got now is really good. When you line up 70 people in one line and take care of someone every 15 or 20 seconds, [for] the person at the end of the line, its going to take that person a long time.”

The food court may be the DUC’s most crowded locale, but students have also been frequenting—and enjoying—the center’s other features, such as the myriad couches that fill the building’s atria and the Fun Room, where junior Ciara Caprara feels she can relax in a social environment.

“I definitely think it creates a good atmosphere for students,” she said. “It’ll be a change from everybody being crowded into the library.”
Booth seconded Caprara’s comments and although his job is to help lost students, he feels that the building’s layout is one of its strengths.
“It’s kind of nice that you can walk right through here and access the classrooms, the Fun Room or the food,” he said. “Mallinckrodt was kind of old and barren. This is comfortable. I can see a lot more people spending time here.”

Aside from the hangout spots, representatives of student groups and campus services have also found a boon in the DUC’s numerous new offices, which include media centers and spaces for Student Union and campus groups.

“It’s going to be great for student groups to come in and work on their projects, to be more involved in campus rather than being stuck in Umrath Hall,” Caprara, who serves as the chair of the Student Groups Activities Committee, said “It’s going to bze easier for people to reach the [Student Union] execs and all of the people who are in charge of the different committees.”

One of the organizations profiting most from the DUC is the Career Center, which moved from Umrath Hall into an expanded space that takes up a large portion of the DUC’s first floor. Pamela Banning, the Career Center’s secretary, said that the new office allows the center to attract more students.

“It’s a showcase for our students and for employers who come to visit,” she said. “We’re more accessible than we’ve ever been before.”
The DUC may be intended as an extracurricular and recreational space but Marshall said that it is also suitable for the supposed focus of college—academics.

“It encourages you to study,” she said. “You’re going to enjoy studying when you’re [sitting] on really nice furniture. Your ultimate goal when you’re here in college is to graduate, right?”

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Tags: alumni, career center, danforth center, duc, eateries

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Facilities and Construction, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.