Peyton Harris, Editor

It’s been a long three months since the news rocked campus about the closure of La Salle’s Starbucks location, based in the Union building. Students were rightfully outraged at the news, which seemed to come at the very last moment before the end of the fall semester. What was the reason? Where was the student input? Questions the La Salle community is still asking.

Members of university administration have said it was quote-unquote ‘based on discussion and feedback from the student body’; but from who, exactly? The Student Government Association (SGA) was not aware prior, nor were many student leaders. Student employees were sworn to secrecy when they were told in September. The only hope after the news of Starbucks’ impending closure was the replacement the university promised would ‘elevate our campus experience.’ So, the question remains: where is it?

If you’ve set foot inside the Union this semester, you’ve likely seen the brown-papered, covered-up windows of the former Starbucks space. A poster for the proposed venue, renamed “The Hideaway” has been hung for months, with no update or expected opening date given to students. Perhaps foolishly, students expected the new space to be open by the beginning of the semester. As midterms approach, we’re still waiting for answers.

“So many students relied on Starbucks for a multitude of reasons,” said junior Cassidy McGonigle. “It was a place to get breakfast, or to study and it’s unfair that we don’t have somewhere to go anymore. We have been told it would be open when we got back to school, and now it won’t be open until after spring break. How long are we going to have to keep waiting for a place for us to get coffee?”

It is worth mentioning that there is a coffee spot on campus: Founder’s Brew, located in Founders’ Hall. However, this spot is inconvenient–some argue inaccessible–for most students. Founders’ Hall is one of the furthest buildings from the central area of La Salle’s campus, which was a selling point for Starbucks. Its centralized location within the Union provided equal access to students coming from all ends of campus, as well as being within easy walking distance to the majority of dorms and other academic halls.

“Most students do not spend their time anywhere near Founders’, so it is very out of the way to go all the way to Founders’ to get a drink. We should be able to walk into the Union and have a place to sit, study, and have coffee and refreshments. It’s unbelievable that we don’t have anything besides Founder’s Brew,” said McGonigle.

Lack of communication is a large part of students’ concerns. Sophomore Claire Herquet shared that sentiment, saying: “We’ve gotten little update about the construction and specific changes being implemented in the space. Of course, Starbucks being gone has made so much of our campus community upset, but seeing that there hasn’t been much work done to the area and no social media posts or emails asking us for our feedback shows more neglect.”

“I know a lot of it has to do with funding and doing what is financially smart, and we as students understand that. Yet since something we loved and relied on was taken from us, we deserve more communication from those who made that decision,” said Herquet.

The university’s current solution while the student body anxiously awaits this new space? Coffee pots and one or two flavored creamers. Each day, a pot of coffee is placed on a folding table outside the former Starbucks, still-not-open Hideaway, with some cups and different creamers available for students to take. While the sentiment is appreciated, it’s also a bit of a slap in the face. ‘Here, take this free cup of instant coffee, and maybe you’ll forget about what’s going on back there.’

Students and faculty alike are frustrated at the lack of updates provided by the university. Multiple posts on Fizz social app continue to share these frustrations, each often garnering hundreds of upvotes. And rightfully so, as Starbucks was a staple on campus for years. People came to rely on it for many different reasons: as a study space, hangout spot or simply as a place to get your caffeine fix. We have a right as a community to be upset, even angry.

I will be the first to admit that I run on caffeine, day in and out. I remember touring La Salle as a transfer student, seeing the Starbucks on campus and thinking, ‘Great! I have my go-to place.’ When I first heard the news–through Fizz, as the university did not say anything until the student body discovered the news ourselves–I was upset, but wanted to give the university the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this new venue would actually be better. Maybe we would have better choices, options and opportunities. However, my concern and frustration has only increased as time has gone on. Why is La Salle not providing updates about The Hideaway? Will it even be open this semester at this point? What is going on?

This doesn’t mean that we don’t want this new space to succeed; I feel I speak for a lot of us when I say that any new spot to replace Starbucks would be an improvement after the past few months without. Lasallians deserve timely updates from our administrators. When I first co-wrote an article about the closure last semester, we rhetorically asked the university what their reasoning was for taking away and updating this campus institution. Unfortunately, that question remains unanswered. And now, three months on, we deserve to know more. So once again, La Salle administrators, let me end again with this: “Many Explorers feel angry and blindsided, while others simply want answers on why.”