The renovation of MacDonald Dining Hall may be occurring sooner than students think.

But in order for the demolition to take place, meal plan rollover – and Campus Corners – must be eliminated.

At last night’s Undergraduate Student Government general assembly meeting, Dining Services Director Gail Finan presented the changes which will be taking place as a result of the updated budget.

Due to a lack of money, MacDonald Dining Hall -which was cleared for renovation during 2006 – still stands with equipment that is beyond repair and outdated, Finan said.

Although the original renovation design was expected to cost $17 million, the cost has been lowered to $12 million as a result of cuts made by Finan.

‘The GT [Express] was torn down and moved into Offenhauer, which will help fund the renovation of the dining hall,’ she said. ‘Also, once MacDonald is renovated, Campus Corners will be eliminated.’

In order to fund the renovation of the dining hall, rollover must be eliminated as well.

‘The current rollover balance is between $3 million to $3.5 million,’ Finan said. ‘I don’t get that money until it’s spent. I need that money to renovate MacDonald.’

Although current students will not be grandfathered into the deal as previously thought, no current student will lose rollover funds until the last day of Spring 2009.

Once rollover is eliminated, funds will carry over from fall semester to spring semester. Any student who attends summer classes will have to purchase a new meal plan.

Regardless of the advancements projected by the cut of rollover, USG senators were against many of the

proposed changes.

‘You can’t ask people to spend $15,000 a year on meal plans and tell them that if they don’t spend it all, they are going to lose it,’ Student Trustee Daniel Jacoby said. ‘No one is going to go for that.’

Finan noted that many schools take away meal plans every week, not just every semester.

Senator Molly Albertson was concerned with how students would respond to the elimination of rollover after they were promised to be grandfathered in, especially from those who will not experience the renovated MacDonald.

‘We are making these changes for the students of the future,’ Finan said in response. ‘We wouldn’t be in this room right now if people wouldn’t have been thinking of you.’

‘You need to realize it’s not always about you,’ she said. ‘You have to think about those that come after you and who will benefit from the changes made today.’

As a result of the MacDonald Dining Hall renovation …

Rollover will be eliminated for all students after the last day of Spring 2009.

Meal plans will carry over from fall to spring, but not from spring to summer.

Campus Corners will be shut down.

Smaller meal plans may be considered, but not until next year.