The dining hall on the Mount Vernon Campus is now offering breakfast after Vern residents advocated for better options for morning meals.
The Eatery at Pelham Commons, the dining hall in the basement of West Hall, is now open Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 9 a.m. after it was previously closed for breakfast at the beginning of the school year. Vern residents said when Pelham was closed, they traveled to the Foggy Bottom campus for breakfast or ate at Buff & Brew — the Vern’s coffee shop on the meal plan — but desired more filling options closer to home.
SA Sen. Ethan Fitzgerald (CCAS-U) said he originally heard complaints in late August from first-year Vern residents about the lack of an on-campus breakfast option, which motivated him to give a public comment at the last SA meeting in late August. He said after the gathering, he spoke “briefly” to Dean of Students Colette Coleman about students’ concerns, and that from there, she took action “pretty quickly.” Senators said SA Sen. Izzy Brophy (CCAS-U), Chair of the Special Committee on Dining, spearheaded this project, but Brophy did not return multiple requests for comment.
Fitzgerald, who lived on the Vern last year, said he believes food insecurity is an issue among Vern residents because they don’t have the option to go to nearby restaurants for breakfast, unlike Foggy Bottom residents, who live in close proximity to two dining halls and several restaurants.
“Just because they live on another campus, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have breakfast, especially because they have less options than we do on Foggy,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said he believes the project is a “good example” of something that can get fixed quickly as long as students voice their concerns.
“If you elevate these concerns to someone, there can be action taken if you have a reasonable request,” Fitzgerald said. “If anyone has any in the future, make sure to raise them.”
Sophomore Keaton Dudley, who lived on the Vern last year, said although he enjoys Buff & Brew, it benefits students to have a dining option like Pelham that offers “heavier” and “more hearty” foods like sausage, eggs and potatoes.
“Whereas, at Buff & Brew, you can get a bagel or you can get a smoothie,” Dudley said. “It’s nice to have another option within the Vern.”
Connor Buscemi Nowka, a first year who lives in West Hall, said Pelham being closed for breakfast was “inconvenient.” He said he and many other students would revert to going to Buff & Brew for breakfast but said they are understaffed and don’t have many breakfast items.
He said he stopped at Buff & Brew one morning before class and staff members were so overwhelmed that they were asking students why they weren’t going to Pelham for breakfast.
“There were so many people there, they genuinely said why don’t you go to Pelham,” Buscemi Nowka said. “We were like, ‘Oh, we’re sorry, but it’s not open.’”
