Imagine having to attend two consecutive classes from 9 am to 11:40 am. You wake up late and barely have time to reach class. You are out of Campus Dirhams and need to save up Falcon Dirhams for graduate school applications. Dragging yourself from your class to D2 in the scorching heat is a mammoth task itself. However, you pluck up the willpower and get going. As you reach D2, you heave a sigh of relief when the first gust of air conditioning hits your face. To your dismay, as you look across the elongated rectangular hallway of D2, it is brimming with people. At that moment, your only desire is to find a table where you can peacefully have your first meal of the day. You intently scour the entire area for a table, none seem in sight. The feeling of frustration is unnervingly patent.

The East Dining Hall at NYU Abu Dhabi, colloquially known as D2 and the only formal dining hall currently operating, has been a site of casual socialization, a space that brings together faculty, staff and students from across classes to grab a quick meal and be up and going within a few minutes. However, these days the story is completely different. D2 is at maximum capacity. All the time. Forget having a proper meal, the grab and go has a turnaround time of more than a few minutes which essentially renders the entire concept of having this provision fruitless.

With students transitioning back to campus and the Class of 2025 being the largest class ever, it is evident that D2 is pushing the boundaries of its capacity. At peak lunchtime around 1:15 pm, queues to the cash counter start at the GRILL, where students are forced to stand in line owing to logistical limitations.

Several underlying issues come to mind. The preliminary issue is understaffing. At the serving counters, including Global Cuisine and GRILL, there are no more than two staff members working during lunch and dinner. However, the menus available at these counters require a substantial amount of manpower as students are given options to choose ingredients and preparation techniques. Also because Forni’s and GRILL are the most palatable counters in D2, the disparity between these counters and other ones is immense.

The second discernible shortcoming is the efficaciousness of the payment booths. Currently, three payment booths host five to six staff members in proximity to each other. The divergence of queues near the area of the Deli counter is a matter that requires careful consideration. Also, the swipe system in place before changes were made to financial aid packages and meal plans was considerably more efficient than the system used currently which requires multiple swipes for meals that exceed one meal swipe. Although this modification seems harmless, cumulatively, the amount of time invested is not negligible.

While addressing these concerns, the compelling solution proposed by the student body is opening the West Dining Hall, D1. To gain better insights into this matter I spoke with Hayoung Song, Class of 2023, the current Dining Committee Chair of the Student Government. According to her, “D1 is not feasible currently in terms of staffing. If we opened it, we could only open one counter which is not enough to draw a consistent crowd. To do this, staff would have to be moved from D2 leading to both dining halls being understaffed. It is currently difficult to hire enough staff to fully open D1 and will take time. However, we are discussing the future of D1 and of possibly opening it next semester.”

The Dining Committee is working round the clock to ensure this issue is tackled in the most effective manner possible. “We are trying to look into other ways to alleviate issues with crowding. This includes adding the feature of checking meal swipes online to lessen some of the people going to the register to check swipes, adding more outdoor seating and reminding faculty to avoid going to D2 at peak hours. Also, D2 is constantly being monitored by Abu Dhabi National Hotels and Mr. Adam Kice, which includes monitoring the crowds but also working towards ramping up staffing for quicker service.”

The issue of congestion at D2 is extremely pertinent now due to the upcoming January Term. The campus is hosting its largest population yet and students currently studying abroad will soon return to campus and add to those high numbers. Moreover, owing to the class timings for J-terms being synchronized, when classes conclude at noon there is going to be a massive rush to D2, further exacerbating the issue.

Grappling with solutions to this issue while balancing it with administrative resources and restrictions is of prime importance. The light at the end of the tunnel can only be reached through brainstorming ideas and encouraging discourse as we adapt to a world where more space is needed than ever before.