In the past seven months,

“Well we distribute money completely different now, so overall Dining Commons and Lakeside require more of the money. So the dining plan money comes through here [Dining Commons and Lakeside]; dining dollars are associated with dining plans and Eagle Express packages are distributed to the retail outlets,” Yawn said.

“My freshman year, I had meal plans. I had the old meal plans, and at the time, you had that lump sum, and you could eat anywhere on campus, but with this new meal plan places like Talons and Wrapsody they don’t get any business,” Annaliyah Ferguson-Salim, junior graphic design major, said.

Eagle Dining Services does not have any plans to close any of the current dining locations at this time, Yawn said.

Yawn said that past meal plans forced students to use various locations because the others were so busy, and the new plans and upgraded locations are more capable of handling larger amounts of students.

“Now [students] can use the retail locations at their discretion, so their participation dictates specifically the success and what they want,” Yawn said. “Even if we have to close any of our retail locations, we’re going to always try to find new viable retail options that our students want and do participate in.”

With retail locations experiencing less foot traffic, there is a need to move employees around to better serve the students.

Typically, Eagle Dining Services tries to transfer students to another unit, like the Dining Commons or Lakeside. It does not like to let someone go if it can help it, Braswell said.

Yawn said, “There is still a dire need for students to be employed with us, we can’t function without them.”

Photos: Heather Yeomans