The opening of Chick-fil-A has been the talk of campus since it was announced during the Spring 2020 semester. Though it was projected to be finished by the Spring 2021 semester, it has come to the attention of many that renovations are still underway. Luke Diel, President of the Student Senate, said that the University is doing everything it can. 

“Everybody wants to get it done. Right now the exact date continues to change,” Diel said. “The administration doesn’t want to promise anything they can’t keep since the date continues to change. They are looking into stuff that could keep the students happy.”

Dr. Shari Payne, vice president of enrollment, expressed a breaking development in food on campus expressing something students have been asking for for a while.

“In the meantime we are bringing ‘Food Truck Thursday’ to the University starting next Thursday,” Dr. Payne announced. 

Dr. Payne described exactly how students can participate in “Food Truck Thursday.”

“We will have several food trucks every Thursday in the GPAC parking lot. Students will be able to use their flex dollars at the food trucks,” Dr. Payne said. “The way that works is you will go either to the Benedum Dining Hall during operational hours and you purchase the vouchers in increments of $1 and $5, you swipe your card like you are purchasing something and it comes out of your flex account. You take the vouchers with you to the food trucks [on] Thursdays between 4 to 8 at the GPAC and you use them as money.”

Dr. Payne said  the vouchers are valid for the whole semester.

“The vouchers are good all semester long; so, if you want to buy a bunch up front and then use them all semester that’s fine, if you want to buy them weekly that’s alright as well. If at the end, you need to cash them back in at the end of the year that’s fine as well,” Dr. Payne said.

Vouchers won’t only be available during the week, they will also be available during food truck hours.

“We will also be selling them during food truck hours on the first floor of the Benedum,” Dr. Payne explained.

Students who do not have a meal plan are still able to partake in “Food Truck Thursday.”

“If someone doesn’t have a meal plan they can still buy vouchers by cash,” Dr. Payne said. “I don’t know if students will be able to pay with Visa, but you can use cash.”

Many different foods will be available for students to try, ranging from pierogies and barbecue. 

Seemingly, the most vocal person in getting “Food Truck Thursday” up and running was President Douglas Lee himself.

“I do want to give credit to President Lee,” Dr. Payne said. “President Lee was very instrumental in getting the food trucks to come to campus. It is really important to President Lee that students have a satisfying student experience and he knows that with COVID it’s been a challenging time and he really wanted students to have something that was fun and enjoyable, so he really went all out to make sure that this would happen.”

Diel said the administration is hoping that the food trucks will help ease the anxiety of students awaiting the completion of the Chick-fil-A construction.

“This is something that will hopefully help the students feel a bit better,” Diel said. “It’s not necessarily the grand prize of Chick-fil-A.”

Diel continued this sentiment by saying that COVID-19 played a big part in the delays.

“It’s not the administration’s fault, COVID’s have been complicated on everybody. There are multiple companies in effect here,” Diel said. “Whether it’s easy to what or not the administration just as much as the students, really want this to get done as fast as possible. All the companies are as invested as the students in getting this project done.”

Students can get more updates on the construction progress of Chick-fil-A on Waynesburg University’s Twitter and Instagram.