Completion of Au Bon Pain put on hold

The completion of Au Bon Pain has been put on hold while measures required by the Metro Codes Department are put into place. Director of Campus Plant and Retail Operations Jeff Wilson said that the original goal was to complete construction by mid-semester this fall. “We’ve hit delays there [the future location of Au Bon Pain] because of getting plans through metro codes and so we’re still anticipating an early spring opening, hopefully by mid-January,” Wilson said. The delays may have put construction behind, but they have not been a major interruption to the SAC. “There’s been a little more dust and debris than we would like in the ideal situation, but we feel like overall, the SAC is able to run just fine.” In the meantime, plans are being made for Common Grounds, located on the third floor of Ezell. “We’re still trying to figure out what exactly we will be doing with common grounds, but it looks like we will simple close that and move that business and those items to the Au Bon Pain store there in the SAC.” Au Bon Pain will provide coffee, sandwiches and pastries, much like Common Grounds and ZeBi Bistro do, but the menu will be more extensive. ZeBi Bistro may be potential competition for the new café, but the location is what will make the difference. “I think it could compete with ZeBi some, but the really unique thing about where Au Bon Pain is located is that we will not only have the SAC traffic coming in and out of there, but that’s going to be a really key,...

Lipscomb to make MLK Day of Service a weeklong event

Service and change is the focus for the Lipscomb community as students and faculty remember the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Lipscomb’s multicultural organization Kappa Iota Theta will host “Change for Change!,” a weeklong change drive. Students can bring their extra change to the student center front desk to help purchase school supplies for the Youth Life Learning Center. “The Change for Change drive is a great example of how small change can add up and make such a big difference,” said Elizabeth Hayes, Intercultural Engagement and Development administrative assistant. “We want students to remember that sometimes, it’s the small deeds that are truly impactful.” Students from Lipscomb, Belmont, Fisk, Vanderbilt, Tennessee State and Trevecca will come together at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18, in Tennessee State University’s Kean Hall to kick off the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Students will have several opportunities to choose from, including helping to paint McKissack Middle School, sorting food at Second Harvest Food Bank, painting a mural at Hadley Park Community Center, sorting medical supplies at Project C.U.R.E. and helping the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Middle Tennessee move to their new location. “The MLK Day of Service is a significant event in that it’s one of the only times in which all the universities come together, and it’s really exciting to see that vision that MLK had of serving, that everybody can serve,” SALT program coordinator Cara Harris said. “And I think just the way [students] take some time to come together and learn about why they’re doing it, that’s what makes it a unique service opportunity for Lipscomb...

Lipscomb Dining chips in a few new changes to on-campus locations

Lipscomb Dining may not be promoting any new restaurants or redesigns for the fall semester, but a few developments here and there have solidified the idea that campus’ dining department is always open to change.  Dining General Manager Wolcott Fary says that not much is different at the Bennett Campus Center food court this semester, but he did have a few updates to share. For example, popular dining spot Far East Fusion has undergone a few adjustments. “It used to be that they would pack everything into a bowl, stick it in the window and that would be it,” Fary said. Fary said that he supplied Far East Fusion with new steam equipment to freshen the food. He also explained that the restaurant will now serve fresh food, and the students can order what they want. Because of this change, business for Far East Fusion has doubled, according to Fary. While Blue Coast Burrito and Papa John’s have only utilized occasional specials, Chick-fil-A has added new salads. But, one item that won’t be arriving at Chick-fil-A anytime soon are the legendary milkshakes. Fary said that because the Chick-fil-A at Lipscomb  is technically an express store, the corporate office decides what should be served at express stores. Therefore, unless the corporate office includes milkshakes in the express restaurants’ menus, the well-loved dessert won’t be coming to campus. Fary said that Zebi is doing fine, but Auntie Anne’s has slowed down measurably from last year’s hype. He hopes to get the snack spot back to the fever pitch that it saw during the first few months of business. “I think that we’ve got...

Student requests yield extra 15 minutes of breakfast time

After hearing from students, the dining hall has moved up its opening time to 7:15 a.m. instead of 7:30. At last month’s food committee meeting, students expressed their difficulty in eating a healthy breakfast and still making on time to 8 a.m. classes. Junior biology major Cristina Kelley said she never had time to get a balanced meal before her biochemistry class prior to the extra 15 minutes of eating time being added this month. “I still don’t know why they don’t go back to opening at 7, I mean, it’s only 15 minutes earlier. But at least they open at 7:15 now because there was no way I had time to eat breakfast with the old schedule.” In addition to the dining hall, Common Grounds, the coffee shop in Ezell, has also reworked their hours of operation. Common Grounds now will be open 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Though changing the Common Grounds schedule never came up at the food committee meeting, general manager of Sodexo Wolcott Fary did have a reason for the change. “We found out that Tuesdays and Thursdays were more likely days when the graduate classes would need to have food and beverage options,” he said. Also for the month of October, Blue Coast Burrito and Auntie Anne’s will be offering specials. Customers can participate in “build your own soup and fish taco Fridays” at Blue Coast and purchase almond pretzels at Auntie Anne’s. The October specials listed in the email from Lipscomb dining sent out to the student body also include...
[Photos] Student center, other renovations almost complete

[Photos] Student center, other renovations almost complete

Renovations to the student center, including adding Auntie Anne’s and Zebi along with new tables, chairs, booths and flooring, are almost complete. As previously reported by Lumination, the university bookstore and Uncle Dave’s have moved to the lower level of the student center in the old Arlo’s location. Auntie Anne’s and Zebi, pictured below, are in the former bookstore space. There will also be a lounge area with new carpet, booth seating, extra tables and chairs, and a small performance stage in one corner. According to Tom Wood, director of campus enhancement, the food court area will have new floor tiles, and new tables and chairs by the time classes start. Wood said the changes will give “a wow effect.” “There’s a lot of interior improvements to the student center,” he said. “I think it will be something they will really enjoy. I think there are some great things happening in the student center.” Numerous changes have occurred on campus during the summer, including improvements to McFarland, the Student Activities Center, McQuiddy and Elam. Also, a new track, located at the high school football field, is almost complete, and according to Wood, it will fulfill NCAA requirements. Changes to the track included putting in drainage systems, new asphalt and even reconfiguring the track. The track’s new asphalt was poured about a week ago and has to sit for 30 days before the track surface can be put in place. “We had to reconfigure it because the previous track did not meet NCAA standards, so we changed some slopes and changed some lengths and things like that,” Wood said. “It’s been a pretty...