Ashland University’s Accent Room to remain closed

04/26/2021 ASHLAND, Ohio -- Ashland University’s Accent Room, a public restaurant serving the community and the Ashland campus since 1972, will not reopen following COVID-19 restrictions, according to AU officials.

“The Accent Room, which had been open to the public since Myers Convocation Center was built in 1972, was closed in March of last year because of COVID-19 and the plan right now is not to reopen it,” said Matthew Portner, executive director of auxiliary services at AU. “When COVID prevented us from being open to the public we re-evaluated our space needs and we have decided the space could be better used for student academic space.”

Portner also noted that the Accent Room’s production kitchen has been converted into a gluten-free zone allowing an area to prepare special foods for those AU students with allergies and food intolerances. “The need for this has been increasing and this allows us to better serve our students in a more holistic way,” he said.

Portner emphasized that the Sunday brunches as well as gourmet- and themed-dinners such as the Mother’s Day, Easter and Valentine’s Day events held in the Accent Room through the years will continue to be scheduled for those on campus and in the community, but will utilize different locations in Myers Convocation Center.

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) offers each of its student constituencies The Ashland Promise, including “teaching students how to think, not what to think”. Committed to affordability, the University now offers incoming residential freshman the Tuition Relief Scholarship, as well as a variety of new forms of financial assistance for both new and continuing students. ###