The University felt the wrath of the student body after it began to enforce a rule denying residents of East, West and select Central Campus dorms access to Case Dining Hall. After receiving a slew of angry calls, emails and social media posts authored by outraged outcasts of the highly revered dinging hall, University Dining announced that it will no longer enforce the restriction.

Dinner at Case has always been reserved for N.C. State athletes, but others were accustomed to eating breakfast and lunch at what many students posting on the University Dining’s Facebook page called “the best dining hall on campus.”

According to Marketing and Communication Manager for Campus Enterprises Joanna Minett, the restrictions for all meals at Case have been in place “for several years,” but the University never previously enforced them.

However, Case employees used directory information stored on student ID cards to deny access to residents of Tucker and Owen resident halls in addition to all residents of East and West campuses.

The decision to start enforcing the rule was based on fears of overcrowding in the 100-seat-capacity dining hall. These fears were compounded by the temporary lack of dining options  caused by Talley Student Center construction delays, according to Minett.

As a result, Dining staffers redirected traffic to other dining halls on campus.

“For the folks who live close to Clark and Fountain, it made the most sense for them to eat at those places, and it was more accessible and easy for [students allowed at Case] to eat there,” Minett said.

Some students agreed with the decision. “This will be a great thing to do since everything else is overcrowded and since we don’t have Talley for now,” one student posted on University Dining’s Facebook page.

However, others turned to social media to express their dissatisfaction. 

Casey Kivett, a sophomore in textile engineering, posted a statement on the NCSU Quad/Honors Village Facebook page to voice his concerns.

“It just came to my attention that NC State University Dining cut off not only the Quad from eating at Case Dining Hall but most of campus,” he wrote Aug. 21. “I don’t know about you guys but seeing as I paid the same amount of money for my meal plan as the people in the Tri-Towers, Wood, Avent Ferry, Alexander, and Turlington just to be cut off from my favorite dining hall I find it more than a little unfair. Even geographically their rule doesn’t make sense as the quad is much closer to Case compared to any Halls on central campus, and Tucker and Owen are in the same boat.”

Kivett also posted on Twitter, saying, “@ncstatedining is pulling some underhanded stuff cutting off most of campus from the best dining hall on campus.”

Another student said on Twitter that she “[would] throw the biggest fit” if she was denied access to Case.

University Dining reversed the policy the same day of Kivett’s posts. 

“It’s been a day, Wolfpack nation,” University Dining posted on its Facebook page. “We’ve received your emails, taken your calls, and responded to your Facebook posts about our restricted access to Case Dining Hall. As such, we’ve decided to remove the restriction and allow anyone who wants to eat there be allowed to do so during breakfast and lunch.”

However, the post added that if overcrowding persists, UD has the right to restrict access to Case again.

“As long as we’re able to give students on the entire campus a safe dining experience, and as long as Case can continue to meet the demand, we’ll continue to keep it open,” Minett said. “If it’s not safe or healthy, we maintain the power to reapply the restrictions.”

The Case restrictions also created an avenue for another student worry—the quality of other dining halls’ food.

“To be honest, as much as I admire what you guys at dining have done I don’t think that this addresses the real issue of why people were unhappy about being banned from Case which is the inequality of food quality at the dining halls,” a student posted on Facebook. “The reason people were mad was because they were not being allowed access to food that is often a higher quality.”

Jennifer Gilmore, director of marketing and communications for Campus Enterprises, responded on the Wolfpack Students Facebook page.

“Please understand that [the restrictions are] not intended to penalize anyone, and yes, the food at Case can be perceived as different/better than other dining halls because they cook in smaller quantities, have different cooking equipment (like the Panini press) and sometimes have things that were left over from the training table meal,” Gilmore said. “Case in point: random occurrence of shrimp on the salad bar.”

Kivett said Case’s new policy is convenient and fair.

“When I found out that a couple hours later [after posting concerns on Facebook and Twitter] that Dining changed their policy, I was relieved and satisfied,” Kivett said. “Relieved that I didn’t have to get stuck with the Atrium every day or walk all the way to Fountain or Clark, and satisfied that dining saw sense in opening up Case for everyone instead of arbitrarily limiting people’s options.”