This fall, the newly renovated EMU is open to students. New restaurants such as Chipotle, Starbucks and Falling Sky are among the additions, while old staples like The Fishbowl and the Buzz Café no longer exist, leaving the students who worked at these obsolete restaurants temporarily jobless. Classified (non-student) employees, too, were laid off from previous positions. One of the primary concerns regarding the unemployed UO students is that these students were unfairly laid off in March 2015, putting job security at risk and the integrity of the UO housing department into question.

I interviewed Dan Geiger, who was in charge of EMU renovation, and I think there is no issue about students’ right to work because the workers who were laid off had their jobs protected.

“We work pretty hard to ensure [that] staff [who] were employed found other jobs on campus,” Geiger said.

During the six months the EMU hibernated for the renovation, the majority of the student workers from the EMU were placed at the satellite cafes on campus—which are located at Lillis, Lawrence, Knight Library and HEDCO. There were some weeks, Geiger said, the students were not employed, but they were soon relocated. As for the classified staff from the Fishbowl and Buzz Café, four were given new jobs on campus while a fifth employee moved to the satellite cafes.

One of these classified employees is Margaret Hoff, who managed the Fishbowl as the food service director. Hoff now oversees the UO Outdoor Program. Geiger was pleased to see Hoff’s hard work and dedication could remain on campus.

In addition to the renovation, new dining options have increased the job opportunities for students. While the former EMU had a few dining jobs, the new EMU has twice as many. Upstairs, Subway and Panda Express have new neighbors: Chipotle, Starbucks and Joe’s Burgers. The new EMU Duck Store offers convenience store-like snacks too.

The EMU is managed by a board of directors who are mostly students, which means student employment was a key factor in their decision making process. With the renovation, there are now ten food venues in the EMU, compared to the four, including Subway and Panda Express, in March 2015. There are twice as many job opportunities at the new EMU and more hours for student workers.

Another concern with the EMU renovation is that it favors corporations, such as Starbucks and Chipotle, over businesses like the Fishbowl, which offered local, more organic food options.

Geiger reported this could not be further from the truth.

For students who prefer local coffee and food over chain establishments, the downstairs venues offer plenty of healthy and locally grown choices. Because Eugene and UO have a strong environmental aesthetic, Geiger is confident these students will savor new additions like Red Wagon and Falling Sky, which both utilize organic and local ingredients. Townshend’s Tea is also local and offers selections of tea and kombucha. The new Fresh Market opening downstairs, an extension of the restaurant at Global Scholars Hall, includes organic foods like fruits and vegetables and grain bowls.

Geiger has not heard many complaints about the new restaurants, and with the new EMU officially opening this fall, it’s unlikely he will.