Campus Enterprises, a new division of the University which oversees the Campus bookstores, University Dining, campus convenience stores and the All-Campus card, began with an announcement March 26 that the new division of departments would begin April 1.

The announcement and realignment of campus entities surprised Randy Lait, director of University Dining, but Lait said the day-to-day operations of Dining won’t be affected at all.

“It came as news to me,” Lait said. “But University Dining will continue to operate as it has, we’ve just been grouped with other functions of similar purpose.”

Lait said Dining’s purpose was to serve students and he had no doubts it would continue to, even as the creation of the division pulled dining from student affairs and placed into the new division which is beneath the Office of Business and Finance.

“Dining’s mission was accomplished successfully under Student Affairs and under the office of Business and Finance there may be opportunities for growth,” Lait said. “Dining and the other departments now under Enterprises are not programs but auxillary services.

Lait said the new organizational structure will allow the departments to work more closely together and to support scholarships.

“It brings together the parts of the University that sell services to the campus,” Lait said. “It’s putting people with similar missions together.”

Lait said he wasn’t a part of the decision-making process and couldn’t speak for the motives of his superiors, but had no issues with the uncertainty of the situation.

“[The decision] came from above and I can’t speak for their motivations,” he said. “I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I’m not anxious about it.”

Lait said regardless of changes his department may face after the realignment, they will better the University.

“The people working in Enterprises have a vision for N.C. State,” Lait said. ‘There will be changes, but it’s not necessarily up to me, and I’ll continue to do what’s right for the University and what’s asked of me.”

Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Enterprises Bob Wood said while the decision was made without informing the department heads, that isn’t always necessary or even appropriate.

“That’s not always the best way to proceed in everything you do and every decision you make,” Wood said. “In a business environment, it’s not customary to ask people to move things from A to B.”

Wood also said the decision wasn’t rushed or made because of the economic crisis facing the state and the University, but that it will help the departments operate at a more fiscally efficient rate.

“It’s been considered for quite a while,” Wood said. “But because of the financial crisis it seems to be a good time to put these things into play and a great time to put sutdents in place to save money.”

Wood said he wasn’t involved in the decision-making either, and also couldn’t put into perspective how departments now under the Enterprise division operated under their previous divisions.

“I can’t speak to the way it was,” Wood said, adding he offered his opinion on the new division at the end of the process. “I was asked ‘heres what were gonna do’ and I said it sounds like a good idea to me. I kind of came in at the end of the process.”

Wood said the purpose of his division was to redirect resources to use them more efficiently and to maximize how money is spent. He will also be available to help departments plan new projects and to consult with departments if they need to make cuts.

“We have to pepper the ideas with the reality of how much money we have,” Wood said. “If anybody in Campus Enterprises feels they need to cut back on the staff, we would talk about it. If a department starts to run into a problem we need to look at what the problem is. It’s not consulting, its managing.”

Wood said keeping the businesses together in a single division will help them to be fiscally responsible.

“The feeling is that Dining is more of an enterprise, it’s a business,” Wood said. “We could probably squeeze more out of it, more for the students if Dining is surrounded by more businesses.”

Peter Barnes, a sophomore in natural resources policy and administration, met with Wood to discuss the new division’s implications on student life and was pleased with the ideas Campus Enterprises will allow the departments to pursue.

“I’m all the way on board with this,” Barnes said, referring to the plan to consolidate student cards into one, all-inclusive All-Campus card. “At the end of the day it’ll save everyone money, both taxpayers and students.”

Wood said this fall students will be able to use their All-Campus card to purchase food and beverages at football games in Carter-Finley Stadium. Still, Wood said there will always be those who disagree with decisions that bring about change.

“In the governmental process there are going to be people who have issues with how decisions are made,” Wood said. “When we revisit this topic in two years I bet students will say things are working out a little better.”

Barnes said regardless of the way the decisions were made, Campus Enterprises will continue to make students its priority.

“There may have been some missteps, but, at the end of the day, they make the decisions for the benefit of the students,” Barnes said.