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Otto the Orange ran around the inside of the newly renovated Schine Student Center, waving at the students, faculty and staff that poured into the building on Monday, its official opening day.

The building, which was initially scheduled to open this past fall, was filled with orange and blue balloons and Syracuse University event staff. Despite social distancing guidelines, students in the front lobby and dining area lined up to try the student center’s new restaurants. Schine has four floors, with the dining options and campus bookstore all located on the second floor.

In addition to the restaurants, there is also a convenience store located on the first floor of the building. Within various parts of the student center, students are asked to follow social distancing guidelines by limiting the number of people per seating arrangement.

Right now, the building is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. In the future, the building will be open to students 24/7.

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Editor

For students accustomed to the original Schine dedicated in 1985, the new building is a change. SU senior Mason Malsegna used to come to Schine occasionally for events, to grab food or to visit the campus store.

After seeing Schine for the first time today, Malsegna said it seems less “archaic” and more open with the renovations. He sees more people using the space than he did before.

SU sophomore Briana Gilyard said the new space is “worth our money.” Despite this, she is concerned about social distancing, especially in the dining area.

“In the dining hall areas, people tend to linger and not wear their masks, and so I feel like if people are eating and just leaving it’s better than them staying and lingering,” Gilyard said.

Schine was initially scheduled to reopen last semester. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Several students took advantage of the first and third floors, choosing to tune into their lectures on Zoom from the comfort of the new furniture and light-filled spaces. Others preferred to work on Schine’s bottom floor, luminated by a light that spells out “Underground,” which offers a darker, more basement-like ambiance.

Syracuse event staff and representatives from the Office of Student Activities walked around the building and directed people toward different restaurants in the dining area. They also handed out pre-wrapped blue and orange cookies to students at the door.

CoreLife Eatery was one of the more popular dining options, with a line stretching into the main lobby of the building.

Sophomore Veronica San Antonio said that she anticipates CoreLife Eatery being very popular, and hopes that the lines calm down as the semester goes on.

“I’ve already seen a few people that I already know, so (it’s) a new place to hang out and there are a lot of new food options I’m excited for,” San Antonio said. “It’s just a really long line.”

SU has closed and restricted the hours of many other cafes on campus to relocate food service workers to Schine.

Lauren Goodyear, an SU junior, works at the Starbucks in the West Campus apartment building and said that they’re one of the only cafes open right now. The school is shifting some of the business from other cafes on campus, like Pages Cafe in Bird Library, to Schine to consolidate the dining options on campus, Goodyear said.

“I see myself doing a lot of work here and definitely eating and it becoming the nice little hub of the middle of campus,” Goodyear said, “like it’s supposed to be.”

Published on February 8, 2021 at 9:27 pm

Contact Sydney: sabergan@syr.edu