{"id":66,"date":"2008-04-19T07:55:43","date_gmt":"2008-04-19T14:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2008-05-12T09:01:24","modified_gmt":"2008-05-12T16:01:24","slug":"then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Then and Now: Dining Halls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dining<\/p>\n
Dining at the Inn during the 1950s.
\n\u00a9 TCNJ Archives<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dining halls<\/h3>\n

The next time you overhear a current TCNJ student bemoan his or her dining hall experience, share this morsel of information with him or her: students from the College \u2019s earliest days had to supply their own napkins, napkin rings, knives, forks, and spoons. They also didn\u2019t have a dining hall in which to eat, but instead broke bread with the families who boarded them during the school year.<\/p>\n

Things have changed a bit since then. When the College moved to Ewing in 1931, officials decided a central dining hall was needed. The Hillwood Inn, a former restaurant that stood on the new college grounds, was deemed the best fit, and it served that purpose for the next 24 years.
\nIn 1955, Phelps Hall replaced the Inn as the campus\u2019s grub hub. Students at the time were sad to see the Inn go. \u201cThat atmosphere of friendliness once conveyed by its deep brown wood and rough brick fireplace is absent from our evening meals these days, \u201d lamented the 1956 Seal<\/em> editors.<\/p>\n

But over time students came to accept Phelps for what it was: the only \u201csafe place to get a meal on campus,\u201d Greg Caiola \u201979<\/strong> laughingly recalled. He explained that whereas there was always an element of mystery about what was being slopped onto your tray in other dining halls, \u201cYou could always count on the meals in Phelps because the place had a deli, and you can \u2019t mess up a bologna and cheese sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dining<\/p>\n
Menu board from the Pub.
\n\u00a9 TCNJ Archives<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 1970s and 1980s saw dining halls open in Decker, Travers\/Wolfe (T\/W), and the Student Center. While many alumni might remember Decker Dining Hall for its dungeon-like atmosphere and mystery-meat specials, Tom Lazarro \u201988<\/strong> had a different take on the place. \u201cDecker had the absolute best hangover food. It was a fried food smorgasbord!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Harnett \u201993<\/strong> didn\u2019t share Lazarro\u2019s fondness for the food in Decker. Harnett, now the women\u2019s swimming and diving coach at TCNJ, confessed that during her freshman year, when she was assigned to eat in Decker, she \u2019d often call for delivery instead, and can still recite the number for Two Brother \u2019s Pizza. She moved into T\/W the following year and said the food there was much better.<\/p>\n

\"Dining<\/p>\n
Dining in Eickhoff.
\n\u00a9 John Davis<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

However, what really sticks out in her mind about her dining hall experiences are the hours she\u2019d spend in the cafeterias every weekend chatting and catching up with friends. That is a sentiment shared by many alumni.<\/p>\n

T\/W and the Student Center dining halls are still going strong. Community Commons (now called Eickhoff Hall) replaced Phelps, and its 800-seat, sky-lit cafeteria made the Decker Dining Hall obsolete. Nowadays, there is also the Library Caf \u00e9, which serves beverages and sandwiches. If nothing else, students these days have plenty of choices about where to eat on campus.<\/p>\n

Much like their predecessors, though, today\u2019s students see the dining halls not only as places to go for one-star food at five-star prices, but as havens in which they can relax with friends between classes and catch up on the latest goings-on. In the process, they are making memories that will last for years to come \u2014and the fact that they get free, unlimited utensils and napkins just makes the experience that much better.<\/p>\n

They still have to bring their own napkin rings, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"then The next time you overhear a current TCNJ student bemoan his or her dining hall experience, share this morsel of information with him or her: students from the College \u2019s earliest days had to supply their own napkins, napkin rings, knives, forks, and spoons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-autumn-2007"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}