Complex sentence: The new Ashdown was designed with the first graduate student dining hall and dining plan at MIT; the previous Ashdown House, originally named Graduate House, had a la carte dining service through the early 1970s.
Split into simpler sentences: The new Ashdown was designed with the first graduate student dining hall and dining plan at MIT. The previous Ashdown House, originally named Graduate House, had a la carte dining service through the early 1970s.