We were taught at an early age breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That we should get a good night’s sleep and have a good breakfast before an important test or big sporting event. And we have seen the consequences of us not doing so: We fight to keep our eyes open, make yawns contagious and perform poorly. The truth is, this elementary lesson doesn’t fade in college.
But eating breakfast does. It is astonishing how many people go to class without eating something in the morning. Though I completely understand it’s hard for a student to squeeze it in before an 8 a.m. class, I think it is just as difficult for someone whose classes start at 9:30 a.m. to make it to breakfast. Sure, we could just wake up extra early, but in college sleep is precious and often limited, and breakfast is often substituted by a quick Starbucks run.
Mizzou Markets are open in the mornings on weekdays (openings range from 7:30 to 8 a.m., and there is a 24-hour location on Hitt Street) so students can purchase breakfast food on the go. But students cannot use their meal plan swipes to purchase food like they can in Plaza’s Emporium Café or Dobbs’ Time Out, so most depend on dining halls for breakfast. Campus Dining Services locations open at different times. At Plaza 900, breakfast is served until 9:45 a.m., while Rollins and Pavilion at Dobbs serve until 10:30 a.m. During the weekend, Plaza does not even offer breakfast, but students are welcome to attend Dobbs’ weekend brunch that begins at 11 a.m. or Rollins’ starting at 8 a.m.
Though I am not suggesting every place be open bright and early seven days a week, it would be nice to have some options. At least have Plaza (the only place I ever see a line to get in) open on the weekend. Waking up and getting dressed for breakfast means having both the time and energy to do so, and for many students, this only happens on the weekends.
It takes time for the cooking staff to transition from breakfast to lunch and from lunch to dinner, but very few people feel like eating hamburgers so early in the morning. Breakfast hours should be longer, allowing more students to find time between their morning classes to eat. Plaza closes at 9:45 a.m. It is not rare to eat breakfast between 10 and 10:30 a.m., so why close so early?
The menus for dinner and lunch are fairly similar, so students’ diets would not be greatly affected if the lunch menu hours were pushed back. Plus, a good portion of the student body chooses to go out to lunch, but few go out to get breakfast; therefore, more swipes could be used. But elongating breakfast hours means just that — making them longer, not opening later and having the shift go deeper into the afternoon. Making breakfast hours longer and lunch hours shorter would ensure students start their days off right while bringing in more of a long-term profit for the CDS. In the future, if more people are able to have breakfast, they will buy larger meal plans.