The Great Hall

Letitia Pate Evans Hall, circa 1950

Much of Agnes Scott College's culture revolves around our dining hall. Agnes Scott's small, quirky student body is required to buy a meal plan, so Evans Hall is an intrinsically comical place for people-watching.

Tonight in the dining hall I saw my favorite professor eating dinner by himself. I said hello and we chatted for a few minutes. He was sitting at a small square table with one tray full of salad, ham, and potatoes and another tray full of dessert and a soft pretzel. It was adorable.

There's always a group of girls huddled around the scanning station, standing and eating.  The group changes depending who is currently scanning people into the dining area. If it's a group of Juniors or Seniors, they say "hey," smile, and scan. Polite and efficient. If it's a group of Sophomores, they grin, tell you what's for dinner, scan your card, and say "You're so very welcome!" Enthusiastic and exhausting. If it's a group of Freshmen, they avoid eye contact, scan, and look startled when you say "thank you."

No one pities the loner. People sit by themselves all the time. I sit by myself all the time. It's refreshingly normal. Introverts welcome.

Everyone gets excited when we see catering staff setting up for a fancy event somewhere on campus. The next day we will have fancy leftover pasta salad, fruit salad, salad made of leaves, and exotic cheeses. Sometimes I only go to breakfast on Saturday mornings in hopes of finding fruit leftover from a rehearsal dinner. 

The popular professor table. Every Thursday they meet at 11:40am and eat at a particular large round table at the back of the seating area. They may seem like just a friendly bunch of professors, but everyone knows they're popular and exclusive. And everyone dreams of one day being invited to sit with them. Ways professors can get invited to the table:

• Have a baby, and it better be cute. You will only be invited when your child is with you.
• Be the adviser for the winning Black Cat Trivia team. That'll earn you about two weeks.
• Look like handsome young Frankenstein and marry an Episcopalian princess.
• Don't blink, ever, and be super witty when talking about your pets. 
• Throw swanky dinner parties where guests make fun of people who think they understand Robert Frost's poetry.
• Go on sabbatical to write a literary textbook.

Holidays make people go bonkers. I now try to avoid the dining hall on holiday dinners because chicks will trample you if you are between them and chocolate covered strawberries.  Halloween? Apparently we've never seen candy before. And even though the dining hall serves cake almost every day, on Birthday-Day we act like savages attacking the enormous sheet cake. Freshman year at the Christmas party, Paige and I had to sit outside because the dining hall was too wild and packed. 

Evans is beautiful, sure. But I fail to understand why so many people book their wedding receptions here.  Do they know what goes on inside these walls? Drag shows, date raffles, capping weeks... this is no place for a formal reception.

Letitia Pate Evans Hall, circa 2009