Despite the indication from Miami University that Bell Tower Commons would reopen this fall, the dining hall will remain closed indefinitely for the upcoming semester.
Haines, Spring Street Market, Dorsey Market and the Starbucks at Withrow Hall will also remain closed for the time being.
In an email to The Miami Student, Executive Director of Food and Beverage Geno Svec wrote that Miami dining is currently understaffed.
“Unfortunately we are dealing with a staff shortage, and we are working hard to recruit the best talent that we can to fill our roster,” Svec wrote.
As the dining halls add staff throughout the semester, Svec wrote they may expand hours.
“We are also hopeful that the student body will be interested in working with the Food & Beverage locations,” Svec wrote. “We have a new pay structure in place for students with the potential of making $13 per hour.”
For now, the dining hall options will remain similar to last semester.
“We will have to start the semester with to-go containers and move towards china service as we increase staffing,” Svec wrote. “As we add staff to our roster we will open more stations.”
In addition to the dining options in Armstrong that will not be open, Cafe Lux, Sundial Pizza, Curve and The Toasted Bagel will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Sophomore political science major Ethan Chiapelli started the petition to reopen Bell last year, and Miami had later confirmed that Bell would be open for Fall 2021.
“There's a lot of things going on right now that the school has said are going to happen, and didn't happen, you know, that we would be fully back to normal this semester,” Chiapelli said, “and that's not true anymore.”
Chiapelli lived in Ogden Hall last year and said he was disappointed to not have the convenience of Bell’s proximity.
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“The way my schedule worked is that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I would only have 30 minutes to get food,” Chiapelli said. “I'd either have to walk all the way to Garden, wait in line for stir fry for 30 minutes and then try to make it back before class, or I just went to Uptown which was much closer for me, and ate there, but then I ended up barely using my meal plan, which I paid $5,000 for.”
Although Chiapelli is commuting this year, he said students this year living in Ogden could have similar issues.
“It's not as bad for most students, but for the kids that live near Ogden or in Ogden, their best options are going to be the food in Armstrong,or the food uptown,” Chiapelli said. “So I think that it'd be good of Miami to either make the food in Armstrong part of the meal swipes or at least discount it instead of having to pay $8 for a hamburger at Pulley’s.”
The full list of dining option hours can be found online.
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