Late-night dining options for students may soon not be limited to Taco Bell and Whataburger runs, and the change could not come any sooner.

In Monday’s Students’ Association meeting, Anthony Williams, director of retail and purchasing; Tom Morris, food services director; and Phil Schubert, executive vice president, addressed the possibility of adding a late dinner hour from 9 to 11 p.m.

Adding a late-night dining option would not only benefit students’ health but also would be a great supplement to meal plans.

“We can create whatever structure you guys want to create – within reason,” Schubert said at the meeting. “It does have impact. You can’t just create something out of nothing.”

Williams said many students throughout the years have requested a later time for dinner, and now that the dining hall is receiving a facelift, we believe adding the later time would make the cafeteria even better for students.

“Students are staying up late and eating later,” Williams said.

Williams said there was no way to estimate if or how much meal-plan prices would increase if the option was added.

“If you offer more meals, additional meals may provide additional costs,” Williams said. “But it’s still too early to appraise that.”

Despite additional costs and staff, adding the new option would greatly increase what ACU offers for dining.

Williams said because of assessments and appraising the options, they would most likely target the addition for the fall of 2009. We just wish dining services could cut through the red tape sooner to add this option in for next semester.

With a new option, fewer students could complain about the already-extensive mealplan options ACU offers.

Williams said, “We give far more opportunity to use a meal plan than other schools that are our size or close to our size.”

The creation of this option should diminish those complaints, and if it doesn’t, we hope students realize that dining services is listening to input and working to change for the students.

If this option is implemented, just think – no more late-night trips to the fast food restaurants. And then maybe not everyone will gain the infamous “freshman 15.”