FAQ: Dining Services

Updated 9/23
Dining facility occupancy will be cut by 50 percent and occupants will observe posted signage on social distancing and mask wearing while waiting in line. Markings on the floor will indicate where people should stand.

Eating meals is permitted in campus Dining Centers, the designated indoor dining areas (for example Feldman Ballroom), residence hall rooms and lounges, campus apartments and houses, and designated outdoor dining areas. Eating in indoor and outdoor campus spaces requires individuals to wear a mask up the point of starting to eat a meal and immediately putting it back on after the meal is done.

Social distancing of 6 feet is always encouraged, but groups of up to six at a table are permitted to sit together (closer than 6 feet) and eat or drink at designated dining areas only. The outdoor designated dining areas are:

• The plaza outside of Grab & Go (2nd floor Douglass Commons)
• Graham Smith Plaza (the area between Douglass Commons and Wilson Commons)
• The tables in front of Douglass Dining Center (1st floor Douglass Commons)
• The tables in the Eastman Living Center Courtyard

Eating anywhere outdoors is permitted as long as you are at least 6 feet away from anyone else.

Eating together in groups in areas that are not designated dining areas—indoors or outdoors—is not permitted. It’s also not permitted to move furniture in any dining space or lounge; the furniture has been purposefully arranged to maintain 6 feet of distance.

In areas that are not designated for eating and drinking, you can drink if you bring your mask down to take a drink, and then pull it back up over your mouth and nose after each sip. If you do this, you don’t need 6 feet of separation (although it’s always recommended). You cannot leave your mask down just because you have a beverage in hand, in areas that have not been designated for eating and drinking.

All Dining Services employees will go through mandatory University and dining-services-specific training. Health checks will also be completed at the beginning of all shifts and face masks will be worn by employees at all times. Dining Services will remove all self-service options and will use disposables for utensils, plates, and trays.

Full sanitizing and disinfecting of food contact surface areas, serving areas, cooler door handles, and point-of-service areas will be sanitized with Oxivir Tb wipes, a hospital-grade disinfectant, at a minimum of every hour and before and after each service time.

Most dining centers will open starting August 17; the following centers will be closed for the semester or year:

River Campus

• Optikale (closed fall 2020)
• Faculty Club (closed fall 2020)
• All four fraternity kitchens (closed for the 2020–21 academic year)

Eastman School of Music

• The Cave (closed fall 2020)

Because for these facilities, it is not possible to maintain the physical distancing required by New York State or because the available staff must be deployed elsewhere.

The status of each facility will be reevaluated in the spring, with the exception of fraternity kitchens, which will remain closed.

Dining Services will continue to offer Kosher, Halal, and allergen-free options.