Select on-campus dining locations remain open for takeout

Liberty University’s Dining Services is offering a variety of food options to students who have decided to live on campus for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester while adhering to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Food Court at Reber-Thomas, Liberty’s main dining hall, and 11 other campus dining locations remain open for take-out, including but not limited to Doc’s Diner on East Campus, Garbonzo, Chick-Fil-A, Dunkin Donuts, SubConnection, and Starbucks.

“For the dining hall, the process will be that students will be let in and will be able to grab a box, or however many they feel they need,” said Duke Davis, district manager for Sodexo, Liberty’s dining services provider. “The dining hall will give them access to pizza and burgers as well as a main entree for the day and an Asian food option.”

Davis said that the dining hall will still be offering food options for students with gluten allergies and has created a second entrance at the back of the building for students who would rather take a container of pre-packaged food than customize their own.

“Outside of not being able to let people sit down in our facilities, I think we are well equipped to handle any crowd we may have,” Davis said.

Students have expressed their gratitude to Sodexo for supplying a vast variety of options.

“I’m really grateful that we still have a lot of options to eat on campus,” sophomore Leah Hussey said. “I’m glad that there is variety and that we don’t just have the (Reber-Thomas).”

Liberty Vice President of Auxiliary Services Louis Cambeletta said that once warmer weather arrives, students will have access to more outdoor seating locations so that they are not confined to their dorm rooms for meals.

“We’re trying to continue food service and give people a choice,” Cambeletta said. “We are trying to do business as usual from a dining perspective, even though there are a few caveats in there because we recognize that take-out only is not business as usual.”

Even though every dining option is take-out, Liberty values students’ desire to choose their type of food.

“As a freshman I don’t really have the option to go drive around for food because I don’t have a car,” said Henrikue Marinon, from Brazil. “Being on campus feels great because we are not just confined to going to the (Reber-Thomas). We have options.”

Through this challenging season of life, Liberty is reminding faculty and students why they have been ranked in the top five in the world for collegiate dining services.