Admission officials had to work quickly to find a place for more than 300 prospective students and their parents to eat Sunday when they found Allison Hall’s dining facilities were unprepared for the influx of people on campus for Discover NU.
When admission officers and Northwestern student volunteers arrived at Allison with parents at about 4:20 p.m., the dining hall was closed and the single Allison staff member present had no knowledge of the arrangements made by the admissions office several weeks ago.
“We hope parents will be understanding,” said Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admission, as he guided about 70 parents back to Norris University Center to eat at Willie’s Food Court.
Todd said 293 prospective students had signed up for the first of three Discover NU weekends, and most spent Sunday night with student hosts. Prospective students also attended information sessions and classes Sunday and Monday. Discover NU programming will take place again the weekends of Oct. 19 and Nov. 2.
Discover NU is an updated version of the fall overnight program and Todd said the admissions staff expanded opportunities for day visitors and online registration without changing the academic focus of the program. The staff never has had problems communicating with food services before, he said.
“This is my eighth fall overnight, and this has never happened,” said Margaret Miranda, senior assistant director of admissions.
Students and their parents said Sunday they were not overly concerned about having to eat at Norris instead of Allison.
“I think it was just some miscommunication, but it looks like this is going to turn out OK,” said Gale Hasselmeier, the father of a prospective student visiting from Plano, Texas.
Hasselmeier and his wife, Cheryl, were able to use their meal passes to eat at Willie’s Food Court, but their daughter, Kristen, had to pay for her ice cream at Willie’s Too.
Parent Ann Kantor of Great Neck, N.Y., said the mix-up over dining locations would not affect her perception of NU or her enjoyment of the program. That sentiment was what Thomas Menchhofer, assistant director of admissions, said he heard from visitors.
“We’ve heard nothing but positive comments,” Menchhofer said. “If anything I think they thought (the mix-up) was positive because they saw how the entire campus can work together.”
Sam Lattof, a high school senior from Arlington Heights, Ill., said the minor mix-up did not hurt her overall impression of the university. She was scheduled to eat at Allison at 5:15 p.m. but ate at Norris instead, although she had the opportunity to eat in a dining hall the next day with her host student.
“The rest of the day was so well organized and they were so prepared with everything ahead of time that changing the dinner plans wasn’t something that would make me think they were unorganized,” Lattof said. “I don’t think a lot of people had a problem going with the flow.”
Admissions officers said they did not know if all the visitors eating at Norris would create a greater expense for NU.
“We’re still working on all the issues,” Menchhofer said.
Todd pointed out that NU was planning to feed everyone at the dining hall, so the costs might be equivalent.
“A program like this requires an investment to make families and students feel welcome,” he said.
The Daily’s Laurel Jorgensen contributed to this report.
