This seat is taken

Georgia College & State University’s dining hall will soon be expanded to include a 200-seat banquet hall.

Roger Busby, the General Manager of Sodexho Campus Services, at GC&SU said, “The planning is in the starting stages. I don’t know the start date, but we are going to build a state of the art 200-seat banquet-meeting facility room.”

Mike Haun, Sodexho’s Marketing Manager, said, “It will be good; it will open up the area, and students will not have to wait to get a seat.”

The expansion will change the face of Maxwell Student Union.

“It will extend outwards to the sidewalk in front of Chick-fil-A on the west side of Hancock Street. The construction will decrease the capacity of the cafeteria even more,” said Busby.

Some students are concerned about the lack of seats that will be available during the renovations.

John Thompson, a senior, eats in the dining hall and feels that the expansion will be more of an inconvenience rather than a benefit.

“I view it in the same light as I do the rest of construction within MSU,” said Thompson. “It almost seems as if they purposely try to inconvenience the students.”

Jessica Deal, a freshmen, feels that the new changes will be good additions to campus life.

“It may interfere with lunch conversation, but it will definitely be a good addition to the cafeteria,” said Deal.

Busby believes that GC&SU needs the addition for the space it will provide.

“There has always been a need for a nice meeting area, and with the projected population increase, we are anticipating the need for more space,” said Busby. “The dining hall we have now can seat between 550 and 600 people.”

Haun agrees that the extra space is necessary.

“With the new residence halls and because GC&SU is growing, we will need it in the near future. It’s better to do it now and be ready,” said Haun.

Busby states that the expansion will not only benefit GC&SU but the Milledgeville community as well.

“It will benefit not only faculty, staff and students but potentially local community groups,” said Busby. “The new facility will serve as a banquet hall holding about 200 people.”

Sodexho will keep the convenience of the students in mind during the renovation.

“During the expansion, we want to work it so that there is the least amount of impact to the students as possible,” said Busby. “We have made arrangements for the students to eat in Hoke Dining Hall during the busy hours.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 2 2001. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry