Students, faculty and staff who have enjoyed eating lunch while listening to a rousing debate or lively lecture at the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union have attended their last “nooner.”

M-Shop director Dave Newton said the popular “Nooners” forums, which have consistently drawn crowds in the hundreds, have become so popular the M-Shop can no longer accommodate their regular lunchtime crowd.

Consequently, the noon talks will now be held after 3 p.m. at a location in the Union yet to be determined, Newton said. The Sun Room and the Regency Room are likely candidates for the forums, he said.

In addition to the “very large draw” of Nooners, the M-Shop’s status as the only location on campus where people can smoke makes it a popular haunt for diehard smokers during the winter months. These factors, in combination with the already heavy turnout for lunch, make for a noon-hour crowd that has pushed the Maintenance Shop to the limit — making it necessary for a change of venue, he said.

“At one [talk] that I went to they dawdled for a real long time,” said William Schultz, a senior in theater.

He said the noon time slot was too restrictive for many people’s class schedules. “Most people just bop in here real quick and they really want to ask a question, but by the time it got around to the question/answer forum most people had left,” Schultz said.

Garin Buttermore, a senior in elementary education and a frequent M-Shop patron, expects a drop in attendance as a result of the time change.

“At noon a lot of people are here, so they can participate and go to class in the afternoon,” he said. But at 3 p.m., he said, people are on their way home and more likely not to participate.