University Housing officials say they deny responsibility for the firing of 16 student workers in the Lakeside Deli and the Saluki Grill on Tuesday after administrative changes cut back the operating hours of the services.

Assistant director of residence hall dining, Mary M. Morgan said she did not tell anyone to fire any student workers at the Saluki Grill or Lakeside Deli. She said she feels there may have been a misunderstanding after University Housing decided to have both facilities only open in the evenings instead of being open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Megan Fleming, a student worker and manager of Lakeside Deli, said she was told Tuesday to fire 16 of 24 student employees by an administrative official.

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Morgan said the dorm cafeterias still have openings for anyone who was working at the grill or deli during the day and should contact Paula Wilkerson in University Housing to discuss rescheduling.

She said the main reason the two snack bars had their hours cut was because the system was failing the purposes the administration had intended at the beginning of the year.

Morgan said the administration made a mistake in not setting limits on how students could use their meal cards at the two snack bars.

When we decided on the limits, I don’t think anyone thought about students buying soap on their meal cards, Morgan said. The grill and deli were to be used for meal equivalency, period, and we didn’t set limitations on what (the students) could get with their meal card. We made a mistake by making it so open-ended.

Manager of the Lakeside Deli and Saluki Grill, Mike Jarvis said he is upset over the administration’s decision to cut hours and was never given any limitations on how students could use the facilities.

I was told students could get anything they wanted anything I had could be made available to the students to buy, Jarvis said.

I don’t think it’s up to us to decide where their meal plan is going. As a father, I understand the administration’s concern and would be upset to learn my kid was filling up on junk food, but they didn’t set any limits on what students could do until after the fact.

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Morgan said the main purpose of the grill and deli was to give continuous service to the students. Now that the cafeterias are open all day and the grill and deli are open at night, the students can still get continuous service, she said.

Jarvis said the grill and deli do have a need to be open during the day and believes the decision to cut hours is the administration’s way of forcing students back into the cafeterias.

It’s unfortunate when we have the facilities to serve the students, and now we can’t use them, Jarvis said. I think we could have kept the day hours, and made it cash only and made special restrictions on the meal cards.