A Complicated Balance: New Hours and Payment Methods for Dining Halls at BSU
This year, Bridgewater State University is changing up the dining hall hours, most noticeably with Flynn and Bears Den. Flynn is now open on all week, going from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM on the weekdays and 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM on weekends, but Bears Den is closed on the weekends now. On top of that, Bears Den has gotten rid of their meal swipe option as of this semester.
These changes have some pros and cons, with Flynn now being accessible for breakfast as well as the rest of the day. This could be a great relief for those who used to walk to ECC or Dunkin’ from the west side of campus in the mornings.
That being said, though, It’s good to have other options. With Bears Den being closed on the weekends, people will be limited to Flynn on the west side of campus on those days. Not only that, but the recent change of removing meal swipes from Bears Den entirely is probably not a good idea. If a student is out of dining dollars, they will have to rely mostly on flex dollars.
Once more, options need to be heavily involved with the process. If they are limited, then they can only cause problems. Trying to find a good balance is complicated, but if we have all the options, then there shouldn’t be any issues. The kinks need to be ironed out, but as it stands, it’s not so bad yet not that good at the same time.
