MSU makes big changes to dining services due to short staff

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - MSU dining halls are now temporarily closed to the public and are only open for student use because they can’t get enough people to work. MSU typically has a staff of almost 4,000, this year it is down to 400. One employee tells News 10 he is now putting in more hours than he has in his 8 years of working for MSU.

“Everybody’s putting in 100 percent trying to make sure everything runs accordingly like always, but it is really hard with the lack of help,” said Culinary Platform Attendant, Timothy Wilson.

Stacey Dawson manages dining services. She tells News 10 many employees who were laid off or furloughed last year aren’t coming back because they found other jobs.

“Some of my full time team members are working 12-14 hour days 7 days a week just to be able to serve our students. Administrative staff are coming in to volunteer on their own time to help us serve our students we couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” said Dawson.

Dawson says there are also supply chain issues that are causing menu limitations and meal plan changes.

“Every day we find out there’s a product we can’t get in or wasn’t delivered so supply chain issues are a problem and we are constantly changing menus to reflect that,” said Dawson.

Because of this MSU dining halls Landon and Shaw will be closed temporarily for dinners and weekends. MSU is offering two options for students who normally use these dining halls. They can get their dinners to-go or they can take a shuttle to Brody Dining Hall. The head of dining services says they are doing everything they can to return to normalcy.

“We just want to get to a place where we can do what we always have done and deliver outstanding Spartan experiences for our students and our MSU community,” said Dawson.

MSU will be hosting a hiring event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Thursday at the Bresilin Center.

Copyright 2021 WILX. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.