Have you ever wished there was a spot on campus where all of the students liked to hang out? A lounge-like space where you could grab a snack and relax in between classes? Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Gustavus is missing this student lounge. Sure, we have the Evelyn Young Dining Room and the Courtyard Café, but neither of these spots provide the lounge-like feeling the students at Gustavus need. We already have the space in The Dive, but it is underutilized. In order to use The Dive to its maximum potential, I think Gustavus should serve food there.

For my Public Discourse project, I have studied the benefits of having a student lounge by talking to other schools similar to Gustavus that have these lounge-like places on their campuses. At St. Olaf College they have The Lion’s Pause, which serves casual food such as pizza, burgers and malts. Molly Erickson, a student there, stated, “The Pause brings a huge sense of community to our campus, it’s a great place to meet people.” At both Luther and Carleton College, students described their student lounge as “the place everyone meets up to hang out.” A similar situation takes places at St. John’s University. Sexton Commons is the student lounge on this campus. St. John’s first-year Tylor Erickson said, “I think Sexton is important for the community life that St. John’s, in particular, strives for.” Isn’t community one of the core values for Gustavus as well? By not having a spot similar to this on campus, the sense of community is lacking.

Other than creating a fun place for the students to go, by serving food in The Dive, Gustavus would be making money, generating jobs and becoming more attractive to prospective students. Why NOT make this change at Gustavus?

Katie Batz ‘13