Why the Elmhurst Cafeteria Should Extend Their Hours of Operation - Essay Example

Why the Elmhurst Cafeteria Should Extend Their Hours of Operation Life on a college campus is notoriously paradoxical. On the one hand, es begin and end on a very structured basis. That strict organization also extends to when students can register for classes, when they can drop classes, and when the library opens and closes. On the other hand, outside of classroom time, students go about their academic careers in a very disordered, almost haphazard fashion. For many reasons related to this inefficient combination of order and disorder, it would be of tremendous benefit to the health of students if Elmhurst cafeteria were required to extend its hours of operation.

A 2005 study found that almost three-fourths of all college students gain weight between their first day and the end of their sophomore year. The primary reason for this weight gain is a combination of late-night studying and poor nutrition due to students eating junk or fast food (Dryden). If the cafeteria were open later and offered food that met the nutrition needs of students, they might be more willing to eat healthier. This would benefit not only the students but the college as well.

After all, healthy students perform better academically, raising the overall GPA figures and making the institution more attractive to potential students and parents of those students (Kotler). On the other hand, of course, staying open later in order to offer fresh nutrition-packed food would require the purchase of a larger inventory. The food offered for lunch or even dinner could not be safely offered as fresh to late-night patrons. Allowing the cafeteria to have more flexible hours would also be beneficial because during lunch time the place is far too crowded.

Having a structured time for when classes take a lunch period break creates a disadvantage by forcing all the students to congregate in one place at the same time. There simply aren't enough seats or tables to meet this need. Obviously, making the move toward the cafeteria staying open later will not address this issue, but buried within it is another issue that can be addressed. Many students force themselves to eat lunch because they know there is no alternative, but many of them aren't really hungry at that time.

Colleges are meeting places for people of different cultures and backgrounds and foreign students sometimes have trouble adjusting to eating at a time that they would normally be sleeping or just waking up. By offering a greater opportunity for these students to eat on their body's schedule the effect will be not only to increase their productivity as students, but to address diversity issues (Rosenberg). Clearly, the issue at stake on the other side is financial in terms of paying for more cafeteria employees, but if colleges can find money to buy new sports equipment every year then surely they can find money to pay for cafeteria employees.

In addition, students are attending classes throughout the day and night, and very often those nighttime students are arriving straight from work, without having had an opportunity to get sit down for a nutritional meal. Since some of these classes end after 8:00, it would definitely present an opportunity for the school to raise revenue by offering full-menu meals to these students. The cost of paying for more food and employees to cook and serve that food would probably be more than offset by the income produced.

There are simply too many good reasons for extending the operating hours of the Elmhurst cafeteria and not enough good ones in opposition. As is usually the case when it comes to common sense, the only real argument in opposition is that it would create more costs for the college.