By Kelsi Peace, Features Editor

The McGlothlin Campus Center could look like a food court next fall if Anthony Williams gets his way.

Williams, the director of retail and purchasing, said the university plans to expand the food retail area of the Campus Center this summer and renovate the World Famous Bean in summer 2008.

Williams updated the Students’ Association Congress on plans at Wednesday’s meeting at the request of Maher Saab, SA executive president, to keep Congress informed of progress.

Over the summer, Saab said members of Congress agreed to having a Quiznos on campus. In online polls distributed last year, 51 percent of students said they supported having a Quiznos over other restaurant choices. Williams said he plans to accommodate those students.

“The customer is king,” Williams said. “The only thing I’m married to is my wife.”

The proposal for the food retail is to move businesses to the common area by the mailboxes, Williams said, comparing the layout to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Renovations will be costly, Williams said, but students won’t pay the price.

“I don’t see this in itself creating a need for tuition increases,” Williams said, adding that ultimately the decision to increase tuition lies with the administration.

Williams said conversations about adding a second story to the McGlothlin Campus Center continue.

Although plans are still being made, Williams said after summer 2008, the Bean could contain a produce exhibition, which offers an extensive salad bar with a sautZ station. The university also may renovate food stations in the Bean, allowing students to see their food being prepared.

“It takes the kitchen from behind the wall, in myth and mystery,” Williams said.

Williams also has a stage area planned in the Bean, in addition to a bakery and a stir-fry station. When complete, the cafeteria will be similar to the cafeteria at University of Texas at Arlington, Williams said.

“There will not be another cafeteria in this city that will rival it,” he said.

Williams said the university decided to stay with food and facilities management service Aramark instead of switching to Sodexho. The decision was made after debate and discussion, using a freshman honors English class as a focus group.

According to the university’s 990, the university’s contract with Aramark was more than $4 millions dollars in the most recent year reported.

While SA will not give funds to help with renovations, it does support renovating, Saab said. One of SA’s main goals this year, he said, is to prompt Campus Center renovations, including changes to the Bean and adding a second story. In fact, the No. 1 ambition of the 2006-2007 Congress, according to the SA Web site at www.acustudents.org, is to give students a voice in the expansions.

For now, SA plans to achieve that goal by educating the student body about the plans, Saab said.

“The best thing we can do is raise awareness right now because that carries the biggest punch.” Saab said the more students, parents, alumni and board members tell ACU they support renovations, the more it will become a priority to the university.

Congress also asked Williams about the possibility of adding a convenience store to the Campus Center and voiced concerns over the meal plan model during a question-and-answer session.

While not promising to add a convenience store, Williams did say renovation plans are still being made. And the meal plan model, he said, will be less rigid only if students pay more in fees.

Students often voice concern over the fact that with the model, all meals are pre-purchased, but not all are used.

“The meal plan model was created with the knowledge that some may not be used,” Williams said.

Williams said student feedback is always welcome and can be sent to umatter@acu.edu.

Congress unanimously accepted resolutions from Alaina Bearden, senior senator and English and political science double major from Placentia, Calif., and Justin Ruiz, Edwards Hall representative and sophomore youth and family ministry major from Belton, and approved Jonathan Duguid, sophomore architecture major from San Antonio, as the new Smith Hall representative.