UNE athletes limited dining options.
Most dining options at the University of New England are closed before athletes get out of practices, what are the dinner options for them?
Lizzie Brytowski
February 25th 2025
University of New England Student
The University of New England offers three main dining options for their students: the Ripich Commons dining hall, the Forum, and the Pub. Unfortunately, the dining hall closes at 8 PM on weekdays, the Forum usually closes around 8:30 PM, and the Pub only has fried options usually after 8 PM as well. What are athletes supposed to eat for dinner when their practices run later than 8:30 PM?
“Our practices get out and then I have to go back to my room and only eat a mac and cheese cup for dinner because nothing is open for me to go get something to eat”. Says Marissa Durrett, a first year softball player at UNE (she/her). Durrett does not have a car on campus so it is not easy for her to go out and get food from other places and the only thing she is able to eat for dinner is food she has to then buy from Target or a grocery store.
Danielle DeJon, a sophomore women’s hockey player at UNE, explains how she also struggles with the dining options after their practices. “The dining hall doesn’t even have to be open later, I think the forum should be. Most of us are starving after practice and then have to just eat snacks we have in our room for dinner or go and spend money at the Pub since it’s usually the only thing open. Since we are all already practicing in the forum the forum should stay open a little later to accommodate for that.”
DeJon mentions how she has to spend money at the Pub because it is the one thing that stays open the longest. Unfortunately, the Pub closes their grill around 8:30 PM, which means that all they have is fried food options which for athletes is not the best meal choice. Athletes after practice are often eating healthier meals to keep up with their intense schedules. Even with getting the fried meal choices, they still have to spend money there, whether they use their own money or their flex dollars.
Anthony Lacaprucia, a freshman football player at UNE, explains how with his schedule the dining options put him in a tough place. “On Mondays we would get out of practice at 8 which wouldn’t give us any time to go to the dining hall, which meant we would be stuck spending money either at the Pub or somewhere off campus.” Lacaprucia has the same opinions on DeJon with the idea that they feel they have to spend money no matter what they do.
However, Sophomore Emma Michaud, who plays on the softball team explains how the dining options aren’t much of a problem for her. Michaud lives in Sokokis Hall and the dorm rooms in this building have their own kitchens. “I usually am able to buy stuff to make my own food after practices like pasta or pizza. I don’t have to go to the dining hall as often as most underclassmen would so it doesn’t affect me that much. Although I would probably go to the dining hall more if it was open later to save more money.”
Michaud elaborated more on how she feels for the freshmen here because it is hard trying to balance a good meal when there are little to no dining options. The fridges in the freshmen dorm rooms are small so they cannot put a lot of ingredients in there either if they even wanted to make their own meals. Even if they got the ingredients they would have to then make it in the common areas which usually have a lot of people in there.
Jack Kuehl, a student worker at the Ripich Commons has a different opinion. “I like the dining hall times. I think that people don’t really understand what goes on behind the scenes and how long it really takes to close and clean up. Sure the dining hall closes at 8, but we usually don’t get to leave until 9:30.”
While there are many different opinions on the fact of UNE dining services here at University of New England, most athletes are in agreement that a change should be made for dinner options.
