THE WORK OF A ONE MELISSA DRIESSCHE

I recently came across this article written by my friend Melissa back when she was a full-fledged journalist for her college's primary publication. My own comments in brackets.

Friday, November 7, 1997

Late night snacking is now a memory at the Eat Shop
Melissa Driessche Staff Writer

Where can you go at 1:30 a.m. when a sudden craving for a grilled cheese sandwich and French fries strikes? Not the Eat Shop.

The Eat Shop now closes an hour earlier Ð at 1 a.m. "After evaluating a 2 a.m. closing time for about a year, a consensus was reached that the traffic count was much lower during that window between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.," said Stephen Schnorr, director of dining and hospitality services, which oversees the operation of the Eat Shop.

Schnorr also added that the majority of students who did come to the Eat Shop between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. were intoxicated."It only caused problems," he said. (I don't have exact numbers but I am guessing that most Americans who are up till 2 a.m., besides those who are at work, have consumed some amount of alcohol.)

There were three key factors in the joint decision among dining and hospitality services, Student Senate and the Kellogg Center Board to close the Eat Shop an hour earlier.

Because of the low traffic flow between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., it simply was not worth the cost of keeping the Eat Shop open. "We found that we were losing money staying open that extra hour," Schnorr said.

Another issue that decided the closing hours was the amount of drunk students who came in during the later hours. "We had incidents of [extremely drunk] people passing out on the cash register and throwing up on the counters," Schnorr stated. (hahahaha, I'm having a mental picture of some dude sprawled across the floor, all covered in his vomit while waiting for his late-night BLT sandwich)

The final problem was parking for Eat Shop employees. Since they had to stay after 2 a.m. to clean and close the area, their cars would be ticketed by police for parking on the street during illegal hours.

Although only one student has called in to issue a formal complaint about the new hours, many are unhappy with the one hour time difference. "It gives students a place to gather socially and eat late at night on campus," said Dennis Anthony, Battle Creek junior. (I would be pissed too if the only place that is open late at night where I can hang out, talk loudly, laugh at the top of my voice, scream profanities and make out with some

"I just don't think the change was necessary," said Abby Semeyn, Northville senior. "You should be able to go whenever you want. Sometimes I get hungry really late." Kathy DeFever, Livonia senior, added, "I think the new hours are inconsiderate of the needs of the students Ð especially on weekends." ( Exactly! College students in small towns need a place where they can go to late at night to talk loudly, laugh at the top of their voices and, if necessary, puke over the counter so that there will be a story to tell for the the following week. Man I miss those days)

Regardless of student discontent, the hours of the Eat Shop will not be extended. Schnorr assures students, though, that they will not be further decreased. "We will not be reducing the hours anymore," Schnorr said, "Student Senate took a poll and the closing time agreed upon was 1:00 a.m." Schnorr added that students can always write suggestions on a piece of paper and present them to the cashier at the Eat Shop. He can't promise that anything will happen, but the suggestion will be read and considered.

Kudos to Melissa for top notch investigative journalism! I wish the Purdue Exponent would lighten up and have its reporters do a piece like this instead of the usual crap that it usually publishes.