By Victoria Stavish

The University of Maryland announced in a campus-wide email that students are allowed to dine in at on-campus dining halls at 50% capacity beginning April 5.

The announcement, which also allows students to host a guest in their dorm room and eat with their peers in lounges, follows a decrease in on-campus COVID-19 cases since spring break. Between March 28 and April 3, the university reported a 0.4% positivity rate from university-administered COVID-19 tests. 

The dining halls have not offered dine-in options for most of the school year, except for a brief period in the fall semester. This resulted in students eating outside or in their rooms alone. 

Maggie Letvin, a freshman immersive media design and art major, said she appreciates that the university is lifting restrictions, but they come at an inconvenient time. 

“It’s nice that the dining halls are back open for dine-in, but it would’ve only really been useful when it was cold out. Now that it’s warmer out, it’s like why would you sit in there instead of outside?” Letvin said.

Thomas Chirichella, a freshman civil engineering major, said that since restrictions have also been lifted in the lounges, the dining halls are generally the least preferred place to eat. 

“I don’t think anyone really cares that they opened up, because we just don’t eat there,” Chirichella said. “It’s not natural to eat in there. We normally just eat outside or in the lounges.”

While students may not want to eat in the dining halls for every meal, some say dine-in options are convenient.

“I don’t think I’m going to eat in [the dining halls] often, but if I were to eat with a friend I would,” freshman economics and agriculture major Ethan Meyer said. “I like having the choice, though.”

Although the dining halls may not be the preferred place to eat for many students, lifting COVID-19 restrictions allows meals to be a social experience once again. 

Brooke Butler, a freshman kinesiology major, said anything is better than eating alone in her room.

“I don’t like eating in my room,” Butler said.

Freshman special education student Julia Mitchel also said she preferred eating in the dining hall now because she doesn’t like eating in her room alone. “It’s just so dark and lonely,” Mitchel said.

Featured image: The University of Maryland announced that it will now allow students to dine in at on-campus dining halls at 50% capacity. Photo by Victoria Stavish.