Frary Dining Hall will be closed for the duration of the 2001-02 school year so that major renovations can be made to the kitchen and food service area. Although the news of Frary’s closure became common knowledge early last semester, many questions continue to circulate regarding why this needs to happen now, how decisions have been made, and what plans exist for the interim.

Frary has been experiencing trouble since the mid-nineties, when reports of problems in the kitchen and service area became more frequent and the difficulties cited more severe. "In 1995 we commissioned a local architect who works with the college to carry out a special study of the building and its needs," President Peter Stanley said. "The study concluded that a major renovation was needed: equipment and systems in the kitchen and servery were near the breakdown point, the roof was leaking, and the existing structure could not be adapted to meet changing needs for food preparation, storage, and serving," he said.

Courtesy of Dean of Students Ann Quinley This diagram lays out temporary arrangements for North Campus eating when Frafy is under construction. Students will dine outside Walker lounge.

The plan to renovate Frary has been in the works for several years. Upon hearing the recommendations of the architect, the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees "directed the college to take the necessary steps to make sure that Frary could go on serving Pomona safely and reliably in the future," according to Stanley. The committee decided in 1999 that the renovations should take place no later than 2001-02.

Two committees have been formed to address two separate elements of this issue. One is responsible for communicating suggestions to the architect, Brian Bloom. It is composed of Dean of Students Ann Quinley, Dean of Campus Life Matt Taylor, Iggy Sardinas, who works at Kenyon House, Manager of Dining Services Diane Keate, Commissioner of Residence Halls and Food Liz Rodriguez ’03, and Wells Miller ’02. This committee has been meeting since the beginning of the year to discuss "what sort of servery area we wanted [and] what sort of things we want to keep and/or change about the way Frary is set up," Rodriguez said.

The second committee has been working to solve the problem of feeding North Campus while Frary is out of commission. It is comprised of the members of the first committee as well as 15 students who responded to an e-mail sent out by Quinley at the beginning of this academic year soliciting student input on the issue.

"They’ve been very consciously seeking student input throughout the process," Miller said. Indeed, two open forums on the topic of dining alternatives for the interim were held last semester and according to Miller both were well attended.

A plan has been devised for North Campus dining next semester that will have the capacity to hold as many people as Frary. Students will, as always, have the option of dining at CMC or any other college. However, Quinley hopes that the temporary arrangement will help to take the burden off of the other colleges in addition to preserving the social function of the dining hall for North Campus.

Most of Walker Lounge is going to be converted into a food serving area, and it will be connected to a large greenhouse-like structure that will serve as a dining area. A trailer will be set up adjacent to the kitchen to make a makeshift food preparation area, as it was when the Coop Fountain was housed there during the construction of the Smith Campus Center. On-demand items such as hamburgers and hot dogs will be prepared in Walker, but most hot entrees will be prepared in Frank Dining Hall and brought in. According to Quinley, the dining structure will be fully enclosed and heated as well as cooled with fans.

A small part of Walker Lounge will be set aside to remain a lounge. It has not yet been determined whether or not the Walker Coffee house will need to be relocated for the year.

When it reopens in 2002-03, the dining area of Frary will be essentially the same, but the food service area will be entirely different. Quinley mentioned that fresh pizza ovens, a grain bar, a bar with fresh breads, and a smoothie bar are among the new amenities students may expect.

"Everyone seems confident that serving food in Walker will go off without a hitch," Rodriguez said.