Union Market Closed | Photo by Grace Ramsdell | The Wright State Guardian
The Union Market and Dunbar Library Starbucks are among several dining options at Wright State University (WSU) that underwent changes this spring in order to best serve the Raider community.
Closures and operational hours changes
At the beginning of the semester, it was announced that the Union Market in the Student Union would not be reopening. This decision was made due to the fact that the spring semester would once again have a low ratio of students and faculty on campus.
“In our estimation, these factors conspired to drive demand down in the fall and we expect that same level of demand to continue in the spring, so we adjusted our hours of operation accordingly,” said Director of Hospitality Services Haitham Shtaieh.
Factors that led to this decision include the knowledge that less than 50% of enrolled students currently live on campus, and knowing the vast majority of WSU staff continue to work from home.
“However, it should be noted that during the fall semester of 2020, The Union Market offered burgers, pizza, subs, On-The-Go, and sushi. All of these options are still available throughout campus including at The Hangar which is not closing,” said Marketing Director Nicholas Paige. “Knowing those same offerings would still be available on campus we moved forward closing The Union Market for the spring semester only.”
The same factors also led to the decision for the Dunbar Library Starbucks to only be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.
“We take a look at each unit’s performance and assess where we can make changes that make sense both from the student’s perspective and a business perspective,” said Shtaieh. “We noticed that engagement at Starbucks would drop drastically after a certain point in the day so the decision was made to adjust the hours accordingly.”
Other dining options
The Hanger is maintaining the same hours from the fall semester as of present time. There is no indication that these will change in the near future.
“I think it’s a good thing there are dining options available because I have some friends that don’t drive or have a car on campus,” said WSU student Lauryn Phillips.
Tim Hortons in the Student Union remains open to students during the week. The Boathouse on Lake Campus also remains open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the week.
