An inside look at William Peace University Belk Dining Hall, with some of the food selection areas. Gabby Buscemi took this photo at approximately 2 p.m. on Sep. 22, 2026, shortly before many student-athletes’ afternoon practices began.
By Gabbi Buscemi
At William Peace University, a single dining hall serves all students on its small campus. Dining hall hours have become a concern for some students, particularly student-athletes whose class, practice and game schedules can conflict with available dining times.
Peace has a set, consistent dining hall schedule for weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, Peace has ongoing dining hours from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. As the new school year has progressed, student athletes have raised a major issue: dining hall hours can conflict with athletic schedules, leaving many students without breakfast, lunch, or dinner on some days.
“It kind of irritates me because I pay for the dining hall and then I have to spend additional money on other things, such as going out to get food when we come back from practice and it’s already closed,” Ava Hooper, a first-year business and administration major who plays on the women’s soccer team, said.
While finding food elsewhere can be frustrating, missing dining hall hours can also affect a student-athlete’s ability to fuel their body properly and perform at their best.
“It makes me obviously hungry, and I feel like I don’t get the nutrients in the meals that I need to flourish in my sport,” Teagan Gehle, a first-year biology major and member of the women’s soccer team, said. “It’s not very inclusive for when we have late practices or morning practices.”
To better understand how dining hall hours affect student-athletes at Peace, students completed a survey about their experiences with the current schedule.
Gehle’s experience reflects a larger pattern among the students surveyed. Of the respondents, 72.7% identified practices or training as the main reason they miss dining hall hours, while 54.6% said they miss the dining hall often or very often. Most noticeably, when asked what changes would work better for their schedules, 90.9% selected later dinner hours.
Based on a Google Form from an informal survey of 11 Peace University students, 54.6% said they often or very often miss dining hall hours because of classes, practices, games, or other commitments, while 45.5% said never or sometimes.
The results point to a clear concern among student-athletes: dining hall hours do not always align with the demands of their athletic schedules. When asked what could address the issue, students offered several suggestions, with later dinner hours emerging as the most common response.
In a Bar graph from Google Forms pulled from an informal survey of 11 William Peace University students, an overwhelming 90.9% said later dinner hours would work better for their schedules, while 81.9% stated earlier breakfast, later breakfast, longer lunch, weekend hour changes, or other hours would work better for them to not miss meals within their schedules.
Sierra Minor, a second-year business analytics major and women’s soccer player, supported extending hours around athletic practices and games, saying it could keep athletes from spending extra money on food.
“I would say to have a later dinner because people are often doing things when the dining hall is open for dinner,” Minor said in response to the survey.
Gabriella Tori, a first-year exercise major on the women’s soccer team, shared a similar concern in her survey response. Tori said she often misses dining hall hours because of practice and training and believes the current schedule does not accommodate student-athletes. She suggested later dinner hours and weekend “Night Bites” as possible solutions.
“I have to eat out when I’m paying for a meal plan. I shouldn’t be eating out,” Tori said.
Tori also supported extended hours around practices and games, which the university can accommodate.
“We could be going to bed hungry when we pay for the meal plan,” Tori later said.
One common solution in both the interviews and survey responses was for Peace to review athletic schedules to identify when groups of athletes can’t make it to the dining hall and adjust accordingly to help prevent missed meals.
“I think they should look to see if multiple athletes have something that would cause them to all be missing on the same day, and see if they’re able to expand the hours,” Hooper said.