JORDAN PATTERSON
News Editor
At 5:03 p.m. on Friday night, Tim Hortons was filled with around 25 people. Some would sit and stay while some would scurry off. It would stay that way through the hour. Next year, of course, this won’t be possible.
The 2017–2018 FSA Budget was released last week, and the SUNY-approved cuts were expected to cause at least some negative feedback. Last week, The Leader reported on the upcoming budget where FSA Executive Director Darin Schulz acknowledged and anticipated the potential pushback.
“I think some of the students are going to not like the Tim Hortons not being open in the evening. I think that’s going to be the biggest [problem],” said Schulz.“I just wish we could keep it open, but it would require a meal plan increase, and it would’ve completely eliminated our goal to keep meal plans flat.”
Cuts that will take place at the beginning of the Fall semester include later starts to some cafes and earlier closing times. One place that will see a significant change is Tim Hortons. The Canadian coffee shop on campus will now be closing at 5 p.m. every day of the week. The alternative, according to FSA, was to close a cafe completely, something they weren’t willing to do. Along with the hour cutting, Tapingo will no longer be offered to students at the start of next school year either.
The interview with Schulz was conducted a week prior to students hearing about the cuts; he predicted that the biggest complaint would be Tim Hortons, and so far he was right.
Students came and went from 5 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. At some points it looked like it would die down, but every so often a group of students would replenish the Tim Hortons line.
Around 5:27 p.m., three students that had been there since 5 p.m. commented on the looming cuts.
Sophomore social work major Tyler Fairchild, sophomore music performance Rachel Keirn and theatre major Seamus O’Connell were all enjoying a drink inside Tim Hortons when they realized that at this time next year, it wouldn’t be open.
“I think whatever they’re trying to do, it’s ultimately going to be a detriment to the campus,” said Fairchild, “and I personally think from my point of view, there are other places where they could cut the money.”
For Fairchild, the sight of new construction on campus, like the recently completed addition to Rockefeller Arts Center that connects it to Mason Hall, is hard to swallow when the school then cuts hours from places to eat.
On the face of it, the FSA budget and money taken from grants to put toward architecture don’t coincide, but for Fairchild it makes it harder to agree with the cuts.
“They need to concentrate on pleasing the students that go here instead of advertising to incoming students,” Fairchild said.
Sitting to Fairchild’s left, Keirn admitted that her schedule as a music major makes her day jam-packed.
“Having those hours cut will have a negative effect on me,” Keirn said. “Because I already have limited hours to, you know, find time to eat.”
A way to accommodate students with busy schedules was the installment of Tapingo, a food ordering system that was classified as a “line jumping” mechanism by Schulz. Schulz also explained that Tapingo, specifically, slowed down the technology at Tim Hortons and, in his eyes, deterred passing-by customers. But for Keirn, this will impact her routine immensely.
“I have a lot of friends who rely on [Tapingo], to be able to get through this line and get to their next class and still be able to eat,” Keirn added. “So I know a lot of people who are not going to be positively affected by this.”
Across the table from Fairchild and to the left of Keirn sat O’Connell, who was more focused on the cafe hours. The simple fact that those hours were altered gave him cause for concern.
“That’s putting me in a difficult position because I do rely on that for breakfast usually,” O’Connell said.
The trio started mapping out the alternative places to go but admitted that on weekends, the line for Tim Hortons will be twice as long during lunch hours with Centre Point opening at 5 p.m.
While all three will feel the effects of these hours being cut, they all rejoiced in the fact they are living off-campus next semester.
“In particular, I’m kind of grateful that I’m living off-campus,” Fairchild said. “This is going to do nothing but accelerate [students wanting to live off-campus.]”