Three separate large dining stations are slated to be added, and seating capacity is set to be expanded to 720 patrons, said Vennie Gore, assistant vice president for Residential and Hospitality Services, at the meeting.

A sandwich station and a homestyle foods grill are among the proposed stations, and fresh, made-to-order food is at the center of the planned redesign, Gore said. The renovations are set to be complete in January 2013.

“We’ve learned a lot about how we prepare food and what our students like,” he told the board.

Currently, Gore said Shaw Hall’s cafeteria serves about 1,500 students at its busiest time — during lunch — and noted renovations will expand dining service opportunities.

Athletic training junior Amanda Moran said although she supports the planned renovations, other campus cafeterias also are in need of upgrades.

“If you have one side of the campus getting a variety of (dining options), it’s not fair to have the other part of campus not get (the same variety),” she said.

The board also approved a $32 million renovation to Bryan and Armstrong halls, the next step in an overhaul of Brody Complex Neighborhood’s six dorms.

Construction at Bryan and Armstrong halls is scheduled to run from May 2012 to May 2013.
“This is part of our further renovation of Brody Complex,” said Fred Poston, MSU’s vice president for finance and operations.

Poston said both buildings will be Leadership in Environmental Energy Design, or LEED, certified, and also will incorporate large glass windows and other elements similar to Emmons Hall in that same neighborhood.

The board also passed the university’s 2012-13 state appropriations request, a document requesting $241.1 million in aid from the state to MSU.

The document also requested $28.3 million in funding for MSU AgBioResearch and $24.4 million for MSU Extension programs, the same amount of funding those programs are set to receive this year.

Following the approval of those projects, members of the board took public comments from four members of the university’s Black Student Alliance, or BSA, regarding a string of on-campus racial incidents that have caused an uproar among some students.

BSA President and education senior Mario Lemons called for the creation of a free-standing multicultural center to offer protection from on-campus racism, along with substantial revisions to MSU’s diversity and inclusion policies.

“(The university’s policies) are not effective,” he told members of the board. “If you look at other universities, we are a million miles behind that.”

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and members of the board offered no public response to the student’s requests during the formal meeting, but Simon did address reporters afterward.

Simon said the university is in the process of setting up meetings with students to discuss possible changes to university policies.

“We have to work through this as a learning environment,” she said. “I give us enormous credit for taking on this dialogue.”