New dining hall to open soon in Farrell Hall

Farrell Hall is undergoing renovations to prepare it for a new dining hall that will be open to students in October.
 The new dining hall, which will be named the Zone, will replace the original dining facility in Farrell Hall, the Purple Zone.
  "The Purple Zone was a sports grill concept primarily designed for late meal and dining after hours, but we wanted to provide more of an opportunity for students to eat healthy and also to have another place to eat," said vice president for auxiliary services Fred Washington.
 Unlike the Purple Zone, the new dining hall will be accessible to students through their meal plan instead of the use of money or Panther Bucks.
 Junior psychology major Jade Walker-Osei understands the reason for the addition of a new dining facility. Walker-Osei believes that most students do not eat at the current dining facilities because of overcrowding.
 "The MSC is too small right now for all of the students to fit in there all at once, and we need another place for us to sit down at and chill while waiting for our classes to begin, without it being overcrowded," said Walker-Osei
 The Zone will seat 125 and will maintain seating for more than 575 students during a meal period, Washington stated.
 The dining hall's menu would be made up of entirely new healthy choices. It will also have an updated and separate menu from the dining hall located in the Memorial Student Center, according to Washington.
 Additionally, he said that the renovations for the project would not cost more than $75,000 since all of the systems for the facility are already in Farrell Hall.
 Currently, Farrell Hall serves as both a bar and a laundromat; although the bar will become the new dining hall, the laundromat will still be located there.
 Some students still feel skeptical about the university's commitments to projects.
 "I hope this really does open because the university is always lying about the stuff that we are supposed to be getting. They keep pushing things back and we pay too much money here to be having them lying to us. We need this need this new dining hall," said Jacqueline Summers, a sophomore criminal justice major.