As the University prepares for the upcoming closure of Feeney (Southside) Dining Center, the Campus Dining staff is collecting memories and stories from those who dined or worked in the facility in its 50-plus year history.
Please take a moment to share your memories and stories by completing the online form at Survey.IllinoisState.edu/StudentAffairs/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=76KM9p3.
I had never seen so much food in my life> My favorite was the milk dispenser. I looked forward to breakfast each morning!!! 1974-1975
Feeney was a great dining center. There was always a great variety of food and it changed enough that I never got tired of anything. I’m glad I left the dorms before Pepe’s was removed though. It was a regular stop for me.
I ate there for four years (1962-66). The first year I remember being surprised at how good the food was. By the last year I thought it was terrible. Food hadn’t changed — that was the problem; boredom had set in. Because slacks could not be worn (except for breakfast and Saturday lunch), everyone had a “dining dress.” That was an easy to put on article of clothing that had a skirt. Generally baggy, often ugly, the garment’s only purpose was to meet the minimum dress code standard. Since this was a girls-only cafeteria, appearance didn’t matter.
It’s hard to believe Feeney Food Service will be no more. . . .
I ate at Feeney for my first two years at ISU (1970-1972). It was cafeteria style, and I liked the food. Sunday dinner (at noon) was always extra special. I have been trying to find the eclairs they served ever since, to no avail. My roommate ate jelly in her cottage cheese and cottage cheese in her chili. I remember the Yell Like Hell Homecoming contest in Feeney where Ham/Whit 3 won for our cheer and our volume. I believe we showed a movie in Feeney that got our dorm director in trouble and got us a brief mention in Playboy. I have a lot of great memories of the friends I made and mealtimes always brought us together.
I first saw my husband in Feeney Foods in November of 1975 when I was a sophomore living in Whitten Hall. I asked someone, “Who is that cute guy?” and they said, “That’s Don’s ‘little’ roommate”. I wasn’t sure what they meant until they said he was just a freshman. The rest is history. . .we were married in October 1983,
My first on-campus job was at Feeney, working the breakfast shift and subbing ocassionally on weekends and afternoons. At the time I lived on the 9th floor of Whitten. While my roommates slept on, I rose very early and put in a few hours of work before I even breakfasted myself. My appetite was huge by then. But I was taking an extra judo class plus several PE classes, so more than worked off the extra calories. I was promoted the second year to “Fry Girl”,frying up the bacon, pancakes, french toast, eggs. I got a raise to $1.10 per hour! I was always amazed at the huge vat of orange juice that was made each morning. And the conveyer belts of dirty to clean dishes in the bowels of the cafeteria. I enjoyed joking with my fellow workers. In particular, it was the first time in my life to actually know African American students on a social and work basis, a very positive experience for me. I came from a small all-white community in southern Illinois near St. Louis.
Many years later, when I had re-married and moved to Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, right outside of Scranton, I met a fellow soccor mom who had also lived in our quad complex the very same years (1965-69) We can’t remember ever having met during those years. But we found many similarities in our lives. We became fast friends and our daughters also became best friends. Our daughters dubbed us “The Dorm Sisters.”
I went on to work at the Photo Service on campus during my last two years at ISU, which I also enjoyed tremendously. The down side was that I needed to wear less than my best clothes to work in the dark room with all its brown-staining chemicals. So I would have to race back to the dorm to change to a dress to eat in the dining halls.
I loved eating at the Southside Dining Center as a student from 2001 to 2004. There was so much to choose from. My favorite was the taco salads from the Mexican station. I think I lived off of those for two years.
It’s sad that ISU is losing another dining facility and another dorm. I can’t believe future students won’t get to experience dorm living like I did. College is about experiencing something different in life – living on campus, sharing a room with someone you’ve never met, eating in the dining centers and walking everywhere. I can’t believe that a lot of future students at ISU will skip over the dorm experience and go straight for apartment complexes. Like the dorms or not, it’s something everyone should experience. I met my closest friends there and am still really close with my college roommate who lives over three hours away. You have the rest of your life to live in apartments and houses. Why not give college students a chance to experience dorm life, which includes eating together in dining facilities.
Just my two cents.