The Engineering Quadrangle opened in 1962, and ever since B.S.E. students have had to schedule their meals around problem sessions and labs because the E-Quad has no cafeteria of its own and is a substantial trek from on-campus eateries.
While that may change in the not-too-distant future with the planned E-Quad cafe, engineering undergraduates say that food and engineering should have been together from the start.
"It's the farthest place on campus without food," said Matt Wolf '05, an ORFE student, while working on a problem set in room E-224.
The Carl Icahn Genomics Laboratory, completed in June, features a cafe in its main atrium. The Laboratory houses far fewer people than the E-Quad does, said Roland Heck, administrative dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
"[A cafe] is high on Dean Klawe's list of improvements in student life," Heck said, referring to new engineering school Dean Maria Klawe.
"Over 500 graduate students, 90 staff, 120 faculty — close to 1,000 people who could use the cafe," he said.
"It's pretty ridiculous that we weren't considered first," said ORFE student Christopher Kirk '05. Students tend to spend hours at a time at the E-Quad, Kirk said.
The plan for the cafe is part of an overall renovation effort of the E-Quad that includes a new handicapped-accessible main entrance, a renovated library and a new electrical engineering laboratory, Heck said.
The cafe would be in or near the main lobby, opening onto the interior courtyard. "That is the first opening of the E-Quad to the courtyard," Heck said.
Most doors into the courtyard are locked.
No architect has yet been hired for the cafe design, Heck said.
Director of Physical Planning Jon Hlafter '61 could not be reached for comment.
The cafe would offer coffee, breakfast food and a "light lunch, sandwiches and soup," Heck said.
Andrea Leewong '05 said the cafe would be useful as a place to hang out after night classes.
Heck said the response from students has been overwhelmingly positive.
"The hope is [it will be] open by next fall," Heck said. However, he said he could not be sure of the timing because of the decisions yet to be made, such as whether to hire a commercial vendor for food or to use the same company that provides food for Prospect House and the Genomics Cafe.
Kirk said ORFE students tend to avoid the E-Quad in favor of the Friend Center. The proposed cafe would be "the greatest thing," he said.
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