Students at Bloomsburg University are concerned with the staff shortage and lack of dining options on campus closer to the library and most classes.

BU offers many dining facilities between lower and upper campus but, there are not many within a short radius of buildings such as McCormick and the Library. Chick Fil A, Qdoba, Montys, Scranton and Husky Lounge are a hike for students who have classes that are within 10 to 20 minutes of each other.

Roongos, is a small cafe located inside of the student services center on the quad but the menu is limited. The Andruss Library used to house a small Starbucks along with Centennial housing a POD location for students to quickly grab something to eat. However, with a shortage of dining staff throughout campus, neither one of these quick options are available anymore.

James McCormack, the Associate VP of Student Development and campus life said, “There are plenty of jobs available. We are so short staffed, and several students showed interest in work, but we are competing with off campus employers for the same people.”

“The design of the campus is the reason that there are not many dining facilities closer to classes. There are two sides. The academic side and the housing/food side. There must be a demand for more options to become available. Although we had success opening the menus up there, we just need more workers to keep them up and running,” McCormack also stated.

Bloomsburg University Sophomore Josh Ash said that he wishes there were more dining options because he doesn’t want to walk from the Arts and Administration building, to Husky Lounge to wait for a sandwich, wait in line to pay for it, eat it and have to walk the 15 minutes back to another building for my class. It takes about 45 minutes for all of that to happen. Just for a sandwich.

When asked about why he thinks there aren’t many more options to eat closer to those buildings he stated, “The student worker shortage on campus is so low because in 2021, $7.75 is not going to get any employers, many employees. Especially college employees trying to pay for rent, food, and everything for school, with no money. It’s just hard but I have to understand the frustration on both the administration side and the student side.”