Diners eat at separate tables in Garvey Commons. Tables have been separated and only one chair is placed per table to allow diners to maintain social distancing.
Even under a stay-at-home order the staff at Garvey Commons continues to serve a combined breakfast/lunch and dinner for students who are staying in the residential halls and employees who are still working to make the campus safe for students, faculty and staff.
All other retail dining locations on campus are closed — including the M store in Atwood Memorial Center. Market snacks and $1 drip coffee are available for purchase at the Garvey Commons register.
For students living on campus a residential hall is their home, so Garvey Commons remains open as an eat-in dining hall as an essential service for them. Garvey Commons is also serving meals to students who are food insecure through the Huskies Swipe Share program and the Huskies Food Pantry, which is handing out vouchers for Garvey Commons for students in need of a hot meal. Huskies Food Pantry is open to all students and all it has to offer is handed out to those who need it as available.
I last ate at Garvey March 23 when I needed to return to the office to take care of some last steps as I finished transitioning to a home office set up at my kitchen table. It’s also likely the last meal I’ll eat for awhile that isn’t homemade. As a staff member and graduate student, it isn’t a big change for me since I cook most of my meals already it’s just nice to get some variety and go out for a meal once in awhile. I also love the chance to get to eat with coworkers or to just see the life and hum of campus if I’m dining alone.
Dining under social distancing guidelines
I stopped in for lunch at Garvey Commons while at work on March 23, so I could experience dining while social distancing. I had taken the week of spring break off to focus on my comprehensive exam for my Strategic Media Communications program and returned to the office March 16 to a school preparing to respond to the coronavirus.
Signs reminding diners to observe social distancing are posted on the doors as you enter Garvey Commons.
There was no time to think about dining, and with so much changing so quickly, I didn’t know what would be happening with Garvey Commons. Besides the grocery store, the gas station and church, stopping in for a meal at Garvey Commons was the first time I interacted with people outside my family and coworkers since I’d begun working from home the week before. It was my first time to see how others were dealing with the new reality of social distancing, which at the time was a guideline because the stay at home order was yet to come. It was also my first time to see how scared people were.
Chartwells, St. Cloud State University’s dining services provider, and the dining staff were doing all they could to keep students and employees safe while they were dining in Garvey Commons.
As I entered an employee was wiping down door handles and signs on the door gave warnings that Chartwells wasn’t accepting cash and that no outside food or beverages were allowed into Garvey Commons.
Stepping up to the cash register everything was turned around with the screen of the cash register and the card swipe pointing toward you. A staff member standing in front of the counter entered my order on the screen and instructed me to swipe my card myself. She thanked me for stepping back as she entered my order. After my swipe, she wished me a good lunch and pointed out hand sanitizer on either side of the entrance available for use on entering and leaving the cafeteria.
No self-service when distancing
No self-service options are available anymore under social distancing. All beverage stations, salad bars, and the spice section were closed.
All food options were dished by staff members who wore gloves and handed you your plate along with a plastic-wrapped set of single-use utensils with a napkin inside. Beverages were limited to bottled water or cans of soda.
Instead of Garvey Common’s usual wide beverage selection and silverware, diners are drinking bottled or canned beverages and using single-use plastic utensils.
Stations were limited to pasta, pizza, grill, comfort, dessert and sandwich station. Even with fewer options, the food was enough to satisfy and included nutritious options like and kale and fruit salad.
Even with the limitations and changes, the workers cleaning and helping you check in and the student workers dishing up your food were kind and helpful. I was truly grateful to them for being there to serve our students when they were experiencing the same uncertainties as everyone else.
Most tables have been removed from the cafeteria with the remaining tables separated with just one chair per table.
People were spread out with a few roommates pulling chairs together to eat at the same table. Mostly people were just looking at their phones as they ate alone.
It was a surreal experience eating in the calm and quiet of the cafeteria, which is usually bustling with movement and chatter during the lunch hour. It made me realize, more than any news story, how real the coronavirus concern was for everyone on campus. I’m just glad that there are people on our campus providing services for students and employees who need to be on campus and that Garvey Commons is still a familiar and safe place for them to grab a nourishing meal.
