UChicago Coffee Shop Controversy

dunbar
Wed, 07 Aug 2013 19:23:54 +0000

This is outrageous. Almost no current students support this plan. Almost no current students are even ambivalent about this plan. Almost every student is against it.

Hallowed Grounds is one of the few all-purpose meeting spaces on campus, and it is a crucial student hub. It’s the only place you can talk and study, with the comforts of a lounge space, at the same time. It’s the only open space where you can hang out on campus on a weekday night. It’s the only place where you can relax in an armchair, play pool, and listen to loud music. It’s good for pretty much anything. And it gets filled up every afternoon.

I could list dozens of RSOs I know to have held productive informal meetings in the seating space at Hallowed Grounds, including every one I’ve ever been involved with. There’s a unique atmosphere in Hallowed Grounds that can’t be matched by the more generic C-Shop, Ex-Libris, Hutch Commons, etc.

ORCSA doesn’t care about student input. They’ve been pushing for this move for years, and just got the go-ahead to do it this year. They consulted six student leaders beforehand; five were vehemently against, the sixth didn’t care too much about the cafe itself but strongly objected to going against the interests of students. ORCSA went ahead anyway.

Yes, this is just a cafe, but it’s a cafe that embodies the combined social and academic experience of many students. It’s arguably the most unanimously appreciated spot on campus, and for the university to think they can just kill it is deeply troubling.

If this actually happens—and unless things change, it will—I would say one thing to prospective students on CC: go elsewhere.