Correction appended. 

Under new dining hours and locations announced on the University’s Dining Services website on Aug. 2, students will have more dining options in Upper Usdan. However, these changes also include the closure of Lower Usdan Dining Hall on the weekends.

The changes — which feature a new Sub Connection and a forthcoming Dunkin’ Donuts location in Upper Usdan — came as part of a series of updates and renovations that last year saw the overhaul of Sherman Dining Hall.

According to an online PDF found on the Dining Services website, the changes in hours and locations include shortened Friday hours of operation for Lower Usdan — which will also be closed on the weekends — as well as the addition of the Sub Connection and Dunkin’ Donuts locations. Dunkin’ Donuts, which previously had a location in the Village quad, will officially relocate in January 2017. While Louis’ Deli in Upper Usdan will still close early on Fridays and remain closed on Saturdays for Shabbat, it will be open for longer hours throughout the week. The Heller Brown Café has new weekly hours of operation, as do the two Peet’s Coffee locations in the Science Center and the Mandel Center for the Humanities.

In an email to the Justice, Sodexo’s General Manager for Dining Services Andy Allen wrote that the changes came as the result of a desire to provide more dining options on campus. “Students here are all about having options for dining. Now that the Sherman renovation and dining room expansion is complete, we can now do that,” he wrote, citing the meal exchange options at Louis’ Deli, the Hoot Market, the Stein and Sub Connection.

According to Allen, one of the factors that the Dining Services staff and the Student Union Senate Dining Committee took under consideration was traffic patterns for each of the dining locations. He noted that the staff has the ability to analyze customer patterns in 15 minute intervals, and that “[w]here hours changed, the data based on student traffic was the driving force.”

The decision to close Lower Usdan on the weekends, he added, was made in part due to these traffic patterns as well as the desire to reduce the “redundancy of 2 dining halls open on the weekend and add variety to the offerings.”

During the Student Union Senate meeting on Sunday night, the senators discussed the new hours and locations, noting that many students have reacted unfavorably to the changes. Members of the Senate Dining Committee explained that they will be meeting with representatives from Dining Services on Thursday to discuss student concerns.

Student Union Director of Communications Max Byer ’19 told the Senate about a survey he, Director of Academic Involvement Jacob Edelman ’18 and President David Herbstritt released on social media about the changes.

While Byer noted that the survey was not foolproof, he said that when asked to show on a scale of “1” to “5” how much the changes would impact their dining habits, 89 of the 172 respondents selected “5” — meaning a significant level of impact — and 51 selected “4.”

When asked to show how the closing of Lower Usdan on the weekends might affect their dining habits, 108 respondents selected “5,” while 29 selected “4.”

Other questions on the survey included open-answer questions where students could write in other concerns. According to Byer, the overwhelming majority of the comments were about the decision to close Lower Usdan, though some students cited food allergies or inconvenience in locations as their biggest concerns. “The most concerning ones were people with allergies who use Simple Servings, and without Lower Usdan they will not be able to eat or eating will become significantly more cumbersome,” he told the Senate. “People don’t come to school to spend hours figuring out how to eat.”

However, Allen anticipates that the decision to operate only one continuous-service dining hall on Saturdays and Sundays won’t have a huge negative impact on students’ ability to grab food on the weekends. “The expanded seating in Sherman allowed us to expand our offerings on weekends,” he wrote.

According to Allen, the Dining Services staff has prepared for Sherman’s busiest meal — dinner — by adding two additional chef tables to avoid long lines. Additionally, Sherman does feature its own Simple Servings station and My Zone nut- and gluten-free pantry for students with food allergies.

Looking forward, Allen wrote that the staff is also “carefully reviewing all of the counts for every meal to be sure that this move will be successful.” He has also been posting notes on the dining website on topics ranging from dietary needs to meal exchanges in an effort to better inform the student body about their options on campus.

And, as Dunkin’ Donuts prepares to relocate to Upper Usdan, the Dining Services staff will continue to collaborate with the Senate Dining Committee and the student body to determine the best replacement for the empty retail space.

—Carmi Rothberg contributed reporting.

A previous version of this article referred to Jacob Edelman '18 as the Student Union's Director of Community Engagement. He is actually the Director of Academic Involvement.