The long lines of hungry students waiting to eat in the residence halls is the norm at the start of a new semester, said the food service director for NIU residence halls.

Director Ralph Chaney said the residence halls are experiencing a shortage of food service workers, but the pattern is normal at the start of a new school year.

“Initially, at the beginning of every semester, the lines are longer in the cafeterias, but it happens every year,” he said.

“Once people get their schedules in order, they start to plan to eat together with their friends and the times they start lining up start to vary a little more often … then everything will get back to normal.”

Chaney said the lines for lunch and dinner are exceptionally long, but in the morning there is rarely a line for breakfast, because “most students do not bother to get up and eat.”

But the shortage of cafeteria workers is not the only reason why the lines are longer than usual, said Rita Mosure, Stevenson Hall Food Service unit manager.

“We have 99 percent of our positions filled right now and 60 percent of those workers are new workers and they have to be trained,” she said. “That is a part of the reason for the long lines.”

Another reason is some of the students are new to the residence halls and are eating in the cafeteria for the first time, she said.

“A good number of students who live here are freshmen and they are new to this whole process,” she said. “It takes them longer to decide what they want and that slows the workers down also.”

Mosure said it probably will be another few weeks before things speed up.

Chaney agreed and said he hopes students can get served faster within the next two weeks, after more employees are hired and everyone gets familiar with the ins and outs of the cafeteria.