Due to recent policy changes in the Evelyn Young Dining Room, student organizations can no longer use the space as a venue for their events. The Drag Show on Friday, Oct. 31 was the last student organized event to be held at the Evelyn Young Dining Room.
When the Dining Room opened in 2000, Dining Services was unsure whether they would allow events to be hosted at all.
“At that time, we thought about what types of programming might occur, and we had a lot of groups approach us. We decided to give it a try. We got a lot of complaints from students who were trying to study or who wanted a neutral space where they could come to eat, not to get programmed. So we pulled back and said we’re not doing any of it,” Director of Dining Service Steve Kjellgren said.
In recent years, however, there have been a number of events hosted in Evelyn Young Dining Room. Events such as the Drag Show, GAC Idol, and Mr. Gustavus are among the most recognized of these activities.
“I’ve gotten increasingly more requests, so we had to put the brakes on and regroup. I was getting some pushback from students saying they wanted to just come to eat. It’s time for us to say this is a neutral space again for a while and see how that goes,” Kjellgren said.
Word has now spread about the decision to no longer offer the Evelyn Young Dining Room as a venue for organization events, and students expressed concern about how this will affect the community events or the attendance of these events.
“I think the community as a whole might suffer slightly from the changing of the policy in consideration of participation at events.”—Mandy Schlauderaff
“I think the community as a whole might suffer slightly from the changing of the policy in consideration of participation at events. There will be potentially less people at the events, as opposed to there being people forced into attending by eating dinner,” Junior Mandy Schlauderaff said.
Other students were also concerned about how the difference in convenience would change the audience.
“I think there are a lot of events people won’t go to if it’s out of their way, but they appreciate it if it’s happening when they’re in the Caf,” Sophomore Will Riihiluoma said.
Kjellgren has already been looking for a solution for potential changes in student attendance due to location changes.
“Moving forward, we can put sandwich boards in the front door of the Evelyn Young Dining Room that list events, and they can still reach that audience. If they choose to go, great. If not, they can sit in the quiet place that they came there for. If those events are huge failures because they couldn’t be held in the Evelyn Young Dining Room, then those people hosting the events need to come and tell me,” Kjellgren said.
Students, too, have been looking for a way to keep attendance high. Some have considered compromises for the situation in order to keep the Caf available for use by student organizations.
“I can see why they made this decision. However, it seems slightly brash. I think there are a lot of really good activities that happen in the Caf, and I think they could just say specifically which ones no longer can be done or have a committee that decides which organizations can use the space. Having none seems too limiting,” Riihiluoma said.
With concerns coming in from the student body, Dining Services has kept in mind the purpose of the changes that have been made.
“I know there is some concern that some right has been taken away. I would look at it the opposite way. We are respecting the rights of those who really came just to eat. It’s a neutral space. We’ll all eat together. It’s a community,” Kjellgren said.
-Kaity Young