This year, the Elements Café, which was located in the Behrend science complex, was removed from the facility on campus. According to Mr. Mike Lindner, Director of Housing and Food Services, the café was not a resourceful option for students who frequent that area of campus.

​

Lindner said that there were many factors that went into suspending the operations at Elements Café: “For a long time, the university has talked about renovating the science complex that has been empty for many years. We have been good partners in waiting with Elements there, but I think that anyone that has ever used Elements Café is not completely satisfied with the selection or the hours.” He went on to explain how Housing and Food Services has tried to find more convenient options for students.

​

“We have tried out many different options to make it (Elements) viable, but we were also not satisfied with what we were doing there,” Lindner said. “Because it wasn’t meeting our customers needs and it also wasn’t working for us, we finally decided that we needed to stop investing in something that wasn’t a worthwhile venture.”

​

Given that there weren’t enough customers coming to the café, which was a large factor in the decision to remove the resource, according to Lindner, they decided to cease operations. He explained that Housing and Food Services were “wasting resources at this space when we could be investing those resources back into a different space and actually give people what they need.”

​

When addressing long-term goals, Lindner said they are committed to adding a similar, Clarke Café operation, given that the university follows through with their projected plan of renovating the science facility. He said that what challenged the Elements Café was the fact that other food options are extremely close to that part of campus. “You can walk from that complex to Bruno’s in five minutes and be back in between your classes,” said Lindner. “A lot of people, if they didn’t like what they saw, would walk to Bruno’s or Paws or The Galley. Whatever we end up doing there in the future, however, has to be different.”

​

Some students on campus feel differently about the removal of the food source. Megan Palko, senior Environmental Science major, expressed her concerns being someone who spends a lot of time within those buildings: “I’m a commuter, but every Tuesday and Thursday I buy food. I would always get a bagel in between my classes and now I can’t do that anymore.” Palko said that there is other food on campus, but she now doesn’t have time to find food in between her classes. She also added that, being a person who chooses healthier options, the vending machines that do reside in that area do not adequately fit those needs.

 

Similarly, freshman DIGIT major McKenna Ballew said that, even though this is her first year at Behrend, she does not have an adequate amount of time to get food in between her classes. Ballew said that it’s “an inconvenience because you have to go all the way to Bruno’s if you’re hungry. There are only vending machines, so you can’t get an actual lunch.” First-year Nursing major Adrienne Sponenburgh also expressed that the lack of food options is “super frustrating because I feel like science majors just hang out there to study or use the computer lab in OBS and wait for their next classes, but there’s no food there, so it’s hard to stay in the building for too long”.

​

 

Nici Cortes is another Behrend student who is also frustrated with the decision to remove Elements Café from the science complex. A senior in Secondary Math Education, Cortes said that throughout her time at Behrend, she has “felt that the science complex and the students who spend their time in this building have gotten the short end of the stick.” She expressed how things have “only gotten worse for this side of campus.”

 

Cortes explained that with the closing of Elements Café and the removal of the Behrend Clipper, there have been many students that are “struggling to get food throughout the day.” She went on to say: “For me, and many of my friends and peers, this was the last straw. We decided that something needed to be done, so I wrote a letter. And with the help of the Science Ambassadors and many other students, we have been trying to get the word out.”

 

She expressed how she, along with her fellow students in support of the effort, want important entities within the administration to know that there are many students that “won’t stand for this.”

 

Additionally, Cortes said that the petition will “be located in Roche Hall all week.” She believes that if the school “provides good food options, at a fair price, and during hours that make sense to the flow of class schedules, I, and many others, believe it will be profitable to the school.”