Winter Dining Troubles

If you ask any senior what their favorite perks of seniority are, many would have V Form dining as their number one. The Abbott Dining Room is a beautiful space, and V Formers treasure the camaraderie that its exclusivity builds amongst the class. Being so beloved, however, means that its loss is felt even harder. During Winter Term, Abbott’s schedule switches so that it only opens to serve breakfast and lunch, stranding seniors in the Tsai Dining Hall—opposite Abbott across campus—for dinner. Is this loss of privilege as minor as it seems on the surface, or is it a real gripe among the senior class?

One of the major problems that arises is ease of access. As Sarah Rodrigues ’25 remarks, “I often feel unmotivated to trudge across campus to Tsai from Reynolds [House], especially in the cold winter.” While everyone feels the annoyance of walking to Tsai in the cold, V Formers are most affected as their houses are on the exact opposite side of campus. It seems that V Form housing was designed around not relying on the main dining hall, and this usually convenient placement becomes problematic when V Formers are forced to rely on that very same main dining hall. Rodrigues continues to say that she feels “many V Formers will skip dinner, opting instead for ordering food or relying on snacks in their room.” The winter already invites an antisocial element into our community and it seems that seniors holing up in their rooms for dinner could only worsen this problem. 

Taksh Gupta ‘25 also notes that “it’s weird going back into Tsai. There are so many faces and all the places where you used to sit are taken. It just makes you feel a little stranded.” Every V Former has to come to Tsai for dinner—though according to Rodrigues this might not even be true— but a poorly timed arrival can leave you searching frantically around the dining hall as you stand awkwardly with a plate in your hand. It is not uncommon for seniors to have to eat either alone or at a table full of acquaintances. While many V Formers may feel comfortable doing this, it does not foster the strong community we want to build in the winter.

Maggie Hammond ’25, on the other hand, likes that she “get[s] the chance to see a lot of IV Formers [she hasn’t] seen in a while, and the salad bar is bigger in Tsai.” If V Formers are given the privilege of having their own dining hall, it shouldn’t be taken away in a critical term, Winter term, for one meal. V Formers deserve to have Abbott open for all  three meals, encouraging seniors to go to dinner in general and also inviting the graduating class to become closer— which is the primary purpose of this dining hall to begin with. 

Ultimately, maintaining Abbott’s availability for all three meals during Winter Term would not only honor the senior class's hard-earned privilege but also strengthen the sense of community and companionship that the dining hall is designed to foster—a cornerstone of the V Form experience.