The New University Union Food Court has seen many changes throughout the fall 2009 semester, and these updates will continue well into the spring.
According to Adam Amit, president of the Student Association, the newest update will be the addition of board game tables in the seating area of the New Union Food Court, which will be brought in around the beginning of March.
The idea for the game tables came about when Amit, other SA members and staff members walked around the New Union to come up with a few ideas to make it more enjoyable for students.
The board game tables, which will look similar to the ones often seen on park benches, will be placed “along the back wall of the seating area, where the high tables are right now,” Amit said.
Some of the games to be included are backgammon, chess and checkers, according to Peter Napolitano, the auxiliary director of Binghamton University.
Amit stated that if the first group of tables are received well, more tables will be added.
The logistics of where the board game pieces will be kept is still under debate, Amit said.
The SA office, University Union Office or the cashiers at the New Union Food Court will mostly likely control the game pieces, he added.
“We want to bring about four to five board game tables,” Napolitano said. “Hopefully it will encourage people to stay beyond the usual rush hours of the Union Food Court.”
The Food Court has also seen many changes to its offered eating selections.
One of these more recent changes occurred with Sbarro’s, which is now offering hand-rolled pizza as opposed to the frozen pizza of previous semesters.
“We had a ‘Baker Tech’ come in just before the holidays to give us advice to make the pizza better,” Napolitano said. “He stayed with our staff for three or four days and helped us make improvements for Sbarro’s.”
According to Napolitano, the new hand-rolled pizza was introduced to the Food Court in December 2009.
Along with the changes seen in Sbarro’s, a salad bar was added to the Food Court.
These food options were created because of their ability to customize and have more practical, healthy options at the Union Food Court, Napolitano said.
Finally, students who have a meal card plan are now seeing added benefits when purchasing food in the Union Food Court.
The Food Court gives an automatic 10 percent off for those students who use their meal card plans, according to Napolitano. Those same students also receive an additional 8 percent off because they are not charged sales tax.
Students are encouraged to bring any suggestions or comments they have regarding the Food Court or any of the dining halls to the SA office.