To: Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President of The City College of New York
From: Yauheni Patapau, Freshman Student
Subject: Availability and Quantity of Seats in the Main Food Court
Date: February 7, 2019

The purpose of this memo is to inform about the campus problem related to the dining services in City College. Having lunch in a proper place is essential for every student to keep up with studying and have a good performance.

Summary
As a new student who just transferred to City College, I know how it is important to eat during the time spent on campus because the lack of energy will only destabilize the studying process and won’t let the student work his best. Having a dining room where people can buy food is nice, but if that room can’t provide enough space, where students can have their lunch, that creates only inconveniences.

Discussion
On the first day at the campus, I have fully faced the problem of taking lunch at my break after spending a couple of hours in classes. When a student is hungry, the obvious thought that comes to mind is to visit a cafeteria in order to buy something and sit in a comfortable room, where he/she could have lunch. However, the first thing that you will find on your way to the food court in NAC building is the huge hall right before the entrance, that is filled with different people sitting there on the wide stairs and consuming their lunch.

The reason for is that the dining room is absolutely crowded, all tables are occupied, and there is no place where you could sit down. But a student can’t just leave without eating something. So, what most of the students do is taking different meals like pizza or salad and walk to other places on the campus that are actually not intended for dining. And of course, with the food, there will always be different litter and other garbage in the classes, halls, and auditoriums. Therefore, lack of larger dining room with more seats creates difficulty for the students, because they need to study in a neat space.

In addition, most of the tables in the dining room are round and intended to be for five or more people which aggravates the issue of private space. There are a lot of students who do not know many people in college and can’t just come to someone they do not know and take a seat right behind his/her table. First of all, that would be awkward. Secondly, sometimes a person needs to spend his/her time alone with lunch and some book or mobile phone. It is an essential thing for everyone, because people do not always want to spend their time surrounded by someone else. No doubt, that socialization is a good thing and that is probably the reason why our cafeteria is made that way. But, sometimes there are such days when a person does not feel good or something bad happened, so that he/she just wants to stay alone with self and his or her thoughts.

Recommendation
A meeting with the working staff of the main food court might help to get more details in relation to the current problem of lack of room and private space, to estimate how serious it is and how it can be resolved. Also, you can always contact me in order to get more information or ask my thoughts about the possible solution. Give me a call if needed (347-971-6409).