University Residence North and South now stand vacant of residents with the completion of the new Fraternity and Sorority Life housing. With this change came the closure of Louie’s Diner, a cafeteria that stood in URS for 12 years.

The remaining dining options are not able to fulfill the needs of students. 

Our staff may be biased since The Antelope newsroom still resides in URS and we’ve grown to love the convenience of Louie’s. But ever since the closure of Louie’s Diner, The Graze has become overcrowded. On an average day, peak lunch and dinner hours leave the line out the door and few seating options remain.

Even further, when big tour groups or middle and high school events are on campus, the wait is even longer. 

We are happy to welcome new faces to campus, but additional measures need to be taken to help serve the dining needs during these times. As students, we often only have a small gap in our schedule to get lunch. The increase of traffic to the cafeteria increases the possibility of being late for our next class. 

The only dining options for students with meal plans are on the east side of campus. 

Students with classes on the west side of campus are getting the short end of the stick. If these students want to visit the cafeteria, they have to make the 10-15 minute trek to the Nebraskan Student Union. By the time they get there, the rush of students from classes on the east side of campus will have already created a far-stretching line. This will make it impossible for these students to get back to the west side of campus in time if they have a small opening between classes.

Brewed Awakening in West Center serves lunch, but students have to pay out of pocket for that. Most students are going to want to use their meal plan swipes or dining dollars since they are paying thousands of dollars for a meal plan.

UNK needs to add a new dining option on the west side of campus to replace the needs that Louie’s Diner previously fulfilled.

We understand that it’s not easy to feed a few thousand people, which is why we think both dining services and students would benefit from this addition. Creating another dining option would help ease the strain on workers at The Graze as well as help students get in and out of lunch in time for their next class.