The eatery scheduled to open next semester in a Village Quad storage space now has a tentative name and motif.Student Union officials said the University plans to open what they are temporarily calling "The Night Owl," a diner run by Aramark that will operate on a late-night schedule, at the start of the spring semester.

The name, hours and menu of the establishment will be determined after students are surveyed for their input, Union officials said.

Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 said there will be a contest for students to send in ideas for the name of the new dining option.

The University allocated funds for the construction of the diner after a Union referendum last fall indicated that a majority of students supported using an empty space in the Village for an additional dining facility. Several student groups lobbied unsuccessfully for the space, including the Activist Resource Center.

Although the eatery could feature standard diner fare such as pancakes, eggs and hamburgers, Sridatta Mukherjee '09, the union director of research and development, said she will push for a more eclectic menu.

"There's no point in having another place serving burgers if there's burgers served at the Boulevard," she said. "What's the point of having two places with the same kind of food?"

Union officials have discussed opening the diner from 8 or 9 p.m. to around 3 a.m., Mukherjee said.

Sinha said the dining facility will probably be opened later on in the week, from the evening into the early morning. She also said the food that would be served will mostly be "breakfast foods, such as pancakes and eggs."

Mukherjee also said she favors weekend hours for the diner. "People do look for places to eat on Friday, Saturday, Sunday," she said. "All of us eat pancakes and eggs late at night when we're tired."

Village Quad Senator Michael Kerns '09 said he hoped the diner would improve the "culture" of the five-year-old residential quad. The Village "is supposed to be a social place, but I think it's become an isolated place," he said. "I think it'll be great to have something where people can go at night and be social."

Kerns added that he would work with administrators to ensure that the diner won't prove to be a noise disturbance for Village residents. "It'll be social, but it's not going to be a party place or a place with loud music," he said.

The University is considering plans to make the ceiling of the space soundproof, Mukerhjee said.