DSG votes to add more ethnic food in Great Hall

In an unusually short meeting, Duke Student Government legislators voted to recommend that Dining Services offer daily ethnic lunches and dinners in the Great Hall in place of the pizza counter.

According to the resolution's sponsors, legislators senior Mike Lieberman and junior Jason Freedman, students have complained about West Campus' lack of variety and ethnic food since the loss of Han's Fine Chinese Cuisine last spring. The success of the Sitar Palace's Indian food and the vacant spot left by the pizza counter further inspired the resolution, according to Lieberman.

"The pizza counter has basically been [deserted] since the Loop came in, and we suggest it would be better used by bringing in ethnic foods," he said. "For the last four or five years, [introducing ethnic food] has been in every survey and has gotten overwhelming support."

With the passage of the resolution, the plan will likely become a reality in the near future, said Lieberman, a Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee member.

Jim Wulforst, director of Dining Services, said the introduction of ethnic food to the Great Hall was only pending DSG's encouragement.

Along with keeping the existing Indian food, DSG will recommend alternating Japanese, Greek, Chinese, Thai, Mexican and Italian foods through the days of the week.

Because of the large of variety of food the Great Hall would produce under this plan, the logistics of setting up appropriate facilities or bringing in private vendors may delay the enactment of this proposal. Because of these concerns, Lieberman would not predict a completion date, but said confidently that students would see changes soon.

"I don't want to commit to a particular date because there are a lot of factors," he said, "but I will say this should happen in the near future."