Sound #50791: “I was studying at the school dormitory during the whole winter session, and a number of students, including myself, were having difficulties finding a place to have each meal. Due to the geographical drawbacks the Global Campus has, the only place students can eat is the school cafeteria. However, the cafeteria stops its sales during the vacation. We have to find a place to eat every time we get hungry.”

This is a recent post on HUFS Global Campus Bamboo Forest Facebook page. More than 20 students liked the post and comments are still being made. The problem with the school cafeteria on the Global Campus has been raised for a long time, but there seems to be no absolute key to resolve the problem. Such claims regarding the management of the school cafeteria are not only a problem on Global Campus, but also on Seoul Campus as well. Students staying at the Globeedorm, Seoul Campus dormitory, have desperately raised their voices to show the need for a cafeteria inside the dorm. Students on Seoul Campus find it very inconvenient that they always have to visit other places for meals, even when they have no class or during weekends. Besides, students from other areas, including exchange students from overseas, have to stay in the dormitory for the whole semester, so they have no choice but to eat out three times a day on weekends. The Argus decided to have a deeper look into the problem through several interviews with students from each campus.

Seoul Campus

Bae Lee-ji, Department of English '14

I lived in the Globeedorm last semester. Since there is no cafeteria or a place where people can buy food, I always had to visit other cafeterias or eat out. It was especially hard when I was in the middle of studying during the examination period, so I sometimes skipped meals. On weekends, the problem became more intensified since the school cafeterias in the other departments closed, so the only choice left was certain restaurants outside of compus. It is inconvenient, and to state the obvious, the cost does not come cheap. If it is hard to manage a cafeteria inside the dormitory, at least setting up a place where students can cook would really be a help.

Seo Ji-yeon, Division of Language and Trade '15

Because it is forbidden to cook inside the Globeedorm, students have to eat out. Personally, I think the real issue is on the weekends when all of the school cafeterias and half of the other eateries are closed. Whether it is during the term or vacation, students do not have many choices for meals during the weekend. Last semester, my friends and I spent hours to find a place to eat lunch on  Sunday, but most of the restaurants were not even open, so we could only go to a convenient store and buy some snacks. It is a pain in the neck to choose between the different menus every time, and providing a cafeteria inside the dormitory is the only sure solution for the inconvenienced students.

Global Campus

Lee So-jeong, Department of German Interpretation and Translation '14

As I have worked in a department office ever since I was a freshman, I have always stayed at school during the vacation period. While working in the office, I have to eat lunch and dinner at school. However, all the school cafeterias on the Global Campus discontinue their operations during that time. Moreover, due to the geographical location of the campus, there are not many restaurants where students can eat or that deliver food. That is why so many students on the Global Campus have called for a school cafeteria to be continuously provided. The last time I worked in the department office was two weeks ago, and there were only three people including myself, so the delivery service, as well as food from other stores, was not available. So we decided to skip lunch and dinner that day, and when all of the work was done, we took one of the Red Buses to Bundang. There, at around 9 p.m., we had our first meal of the day. This issue has been discussed for a long time, but it does not seem like it will be resolved soon. 

Kwon A-ra, Department of English Interpretation and Translation '14

I took a required subject for my first major during the winter session at Global Campus. This was my first time to stay on campus during vacation. The problem I first faced was that during the vacation, the school cafeterias on Global Campus temporarily stopped operating. Instead, the lunchroom for the school faculty was open, but is 2,000 won more expensive than the average meal at the school cafeteria. I tried to eat somewhere cheaper than the lunchroom, but there was no such place. The cheapest meal in the lunchroom was over 5,000 won and I could not spend that amount of money on every meal, so I bought snacks for lunch and ate in the lunchroom only when I really needed a complete meal.