Wofford’s dining hall gets a facelift
For months now, rumors of renovation to Wofford’s favorite feeding trough, Burwell dining hall, have circulated around campus. There have been both optimistic and skeptical speculations towards this news: “When will this renovation take place?,” “Will this affect quality of service or food choice?,” “Will the hours remain the same, or will Burwell go full U.S. government and completely shut down?”
Hoping to set the minds of Wofford students at ease, I sought answers from Wofford’s Chief Financial Officer Christopher Gardner. Gardner responded to my email:
“We are still determining the timeline for this project. Our current plan, which remains subject to change, is to have the renovation completed before the Spring semester of 2021. It is also our current plan not to have significant construction activities in Burwell for any single entire academic year (meaning we don’t currently expect to have an entire fall semester and an entire spring semester impacted by construction activities.) We have not yet determined a start date for the project and are also evaluating various phased approaches to the project, so it is premature to comment on exact dates or times when the facility might be closed or disrupted.”
Gardner also added that a possibility remains for Burwell to close for a summer term sometime in the future, but remain open during the standard academic year. As far as questions regarding the physical layout and potential hours of the new and improved Burwell, Gardner says it is too early in the process to be dealing with concrete details. While the plans for renovation are certainly in the cards, the planning is still in the developmental stages.
Though it is an answer that lacks any concrete information, the formative nature of Wofford’s plans for Burwell affords students the perfect opportunity to offer their input on potential changes. By writing the president, provost or business office, the student body can tailor the future of on-campus dining.
By Chalmers Rogland
