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TechnographPAR plans to close, renovate cramped dining area
Student employee positions will be limited during 2007-2008 school year
By Kyle Waller
Posted: 4/2/07 Section: News
The PAR dining hall will close for the 2007-2008 school year in an attempt to upgrade and renovate the dining area.
PAR has been open since September 1962 and at the time was built for only a few hundred people. Now, in 2007, there are more students in the PAR/FAR dining area then ever before and due to the cramped entrance and the constant jam of lines, more room is necessary.
The first day of actual construction in the basement dining area begins after May 11 and will take an entire school year to finish.
Kirsten Ruby, assistant director of Housing for marketing, said the dining area will be totally redone.
"The students who return to PAR the year it's finished will see that the room is nothing like what it once was," she said. "We need to upgrade with the area because we are in a time with a lot more students."
During the renovation, PAR residents will have to eat in the FAR dining hall. However, they will be able to purchase items with their cafe credits at Penn Station, which is located on the east side of the PAR lobby.
According to Ruby and the PAR management staff, one of the many proposed ideas is that the dining area will have three food stations: one for pasta, one for made-to-order burgers and one for Mexican food. Each station will be located in different areas to prevent crowding.
In addition, the entire basement dining area will expand instead of the kitchen separating the dining side from the late night side. The kitchen will then be in the back corner of the current late night side sitting area, and the two will become one large room.
The other aspect of the new renovation plan is the termination of most of the student staff. There will only be positions open at Penn Station. Otherwise, students will have to go elsewhere to find employment.
Chericka Foster, sophomore in LAS and student supervisor, said there are some benefits and setbacks about the upgrade.
"It's great that Housing is remodeling; PAR really needs it because it's really old," she said. "But it may be hard to find another job at a dining service or somewhere else altogether."
For any student who finds another dining service job, they will be paid the same amount as an entry position employee and not the pay rate they may have ended the semester with, Foster said.
Gabrielle White, a sophomore in LAS, said she wants to stick with the dining service.
"I may find somewhere else to go since we get priority in other dorms," she said. "But I wish it was an easier way to do it without us losing the jobs we have."
Mary Black, service manager for PAR, said that the planning for the basement cafe has been in the works for quite some time.
"We have been planning to remodel the dining area for five years now," she said. "It's a shame some students who worked here may not get a chance to see it since they may graduate."
Notes on PAR
The UIHistories Project Web site
PAR has been open since September 1962 and at the time was built for only a few hundred people. Now, in 2007, there are more students in the PAR/FAR dining area then ever before and due to the cramped entrance and the constant jam of lines, more room is necessary.
The first day of actual construction in the basement dining area begins after May 11 and will take an entire school year to finish.
Kirsten Ruby, assistant director of Housing for marketing, said the dining area will be totally redone.
"The students who return to PAR the year it's finished will see that the room is nothing like what it once was," she said. "We need to upgrade with the area because we are in a time with a lot more students."
During the renovation, PAR residents will have to eat in the FAR dining hall. However, they will be able to purchase items with their cafe credits at Penn Station, which is located on the east side of the PAR lobby.
According to Ruby and the PAR management staff, one of the many proposed ideas is that the dining area will have three food stations: one for pasta, one for made-to-order burgers and one for Mexican food. Each station will be located in different areas to prevent crowding.
In addition, the entire basement dining area will expand instead of the kitchen separating the dining side from the late night side. The kitchen will then be in the back corner of the current late night side sitting area, and the two will become one large room.
The other aspect of the new renovation plan is the termination of most of the student staff. There will only be positions open at Penn Station. Otherwise, students will have to go elsewhere to find employment.
Chericka Foster, sophomore in LAS and student supervisor, said there are some benefits and setbacks about the upgrade.
"It's great that Housing is remodeling; PAR really needs it because it's really old," she said. "But it may be hard to find another job at a dining service or somewhere else altogether."
For any student who finds another dining service job, they will be paid the same amount as an entry position employee and not the pay rate they may have ended the semester with, Foster said.
Gabrielle White, a sophomore in LAS, said she wants to stick with the dining service.
"I may find somewhere else to go since we get priority in other dorms," she said. "But I wish it was an easier way to do it without us losing the jobs we have."
Mary Black, service manager for PAR, said that the planning for the basement cafe has been in the works for quite some time.
"We have been planning to remodel the dining area for five years now," she said. "It's a shame some students who worked here may not get a chance to see it since they may graduate."
Notes on PAR
- PAR was the first coeducational undergraduate dormitory on campus.
- The initial construction of PAR cost $5.75 million.
- PAR contains 1,032 rooms.
The UIHistories Project Web site
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