Throughout history someone had to let their voice be heard in order for change to occur. Thanks to students voicing their concerns, the computer café was saved.
One of the problem areas on campus has been the computer café. The computer café closing was only in the discussion phases and many students spoke out to save the café. Since the café is one of the few things open 24/7 on campus, it is where anyone can go to work on anything they need to get done. Taking this away from students would have been a step in the wrong direction for having a student centered campus.
Lately the atmosphere in the computer café has been more of a controlled environment than previously. Having to show your ID every time you enter the café is a small hassle to improve the security. The presence of the security guard seems to have helped greatly. The noise levels aren’t as out of control and behavior seems to have been tamed.
Of course the environment doesn’t need to be quite as academic as the library. The café is where students can go to just relax. It was just finding the balance between an academic environment and the chaotic environment it previously had that was the challenge. This problem seems to have been solved.
The amount of noise has been a strong issue, but the destruction of equipment for disabled students is an expensive incident. All of the students that counted on that equipment are the ones that truly have to face the consequences of other’s actions. Why someone would even destroy this equipment is sort of a mystery. On a college campus you would hope students can be more mature than that. Hopefully the added security will stop any more destruction of equipment.
Having the lab portion of the café again will be an added bonus. The academic tutoring was an important element in assisting students, so when that element of the café was missing students were at a loss. Faculty shouldn’t have had to police the café before, so more security was obviously needed.
The campus center should always remain student centered, because it is supposed to be the one place on campus that is purely for the students. Having a place for students builds a stronger campus life. Without the computer café student life would be negatively affected, so keeping the café was the only answer.
Now that students see their voice truly does matter hopefully they will let their concerns be heard. The most important thing is to have your opinions heard and have your problems be known. Often more than one person will feel the same on an issue. Coming together to bring about change that improves the campus is one of the best things a student can do.
You can show your support for the computer café staying open by voting for the referendum that will address this issue in the next election. This will show that you care about your voice being heard and show that you don’t want the computer café being closed in the future either.
Cafe Photo: Chris Ryerson/The Hudsonian
1 comments:
Here's to the Café staying open!
Hip Hip Hooray!
Yeah, that café has saved my rear a bunch of times when I had to do the layout last year, and needed to use their scanner. Good thing they are keeping it and it isn't such a wild wild west of swearing anymore.
Destruction of the handicapped resources though is just... sad.
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