It’s 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, and after coming back from a long work shift, the last thing I want to think about is cooking dinner.  So what would any other hungry California Lutheran University student do in this situation? Walk to the Centrum and pick something up there, of course.

But, it’s 10 p.m. on a Saturday night and the Centrum is closed.  And this starving student ends up settling for the frozen pizza in his freezer.

We are college students. We get hungry really late in the night and all we want sometimes is a freshly cooked meal.  We deserve more food options during the weekend other than just a late night Mogen Market run.

I know I’m not alone in the struggle to find food. Aside from the Dining Commons open from 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, it still leaves many students wondering what they’re going to eat if they missed those hours.

This is why the Centrum would be useful on the weekend. If it stayed open until 11 p.m. like it usually does Monday through Thursday, then those students would have a chance to use their meal plans and not spend extra money elsewhere.

Junior Jillian Sessions has encountered this problem many times before.

“My on-campus job hours interfered with the small amount of time that food was offered,” Sessions said.

“Sodexo could easily fix this by keeping the same hours on Friday and Saturday.  I know many other private schools have cafes open at least until 2 a.m. on their campus. This gives students healthier options than the fast food chains offer. It also eliminates the option to drink and drive off campus to get food on weekend nights.”

Along with Sessions, freshman Christina Muren also wishes she had more food choices.

“I’m usually here on the weekends and I often end up driving somewhere else to eat because everything at school is closed.  Sometimes, I don’t want to eat at the caf either since I usually eat there more during the week,” Muren said.

According to Martin Finfrock, general manager for Sodexo, they have tried to keep the Centrum open for business on weekends in the past.

“Nobody was there, no one would show up. We wouldn’t keep the restaurant open late because during the day, we’d maybe get 20 total customers, if that.  If there was a need for it, we would have it open. But Saturday and Sunday nights were the slowest of the week,” Finfrock said.

I get that many students aren’t here on campus during the weekend, but it still concerns me that we don’t have an option for late night food.

The fact remains that there are students who are here every night of the week and may not have the alternative to drive and pick up a meal.

Perhaps if the Centrum were to advertise that it was going to stay open late for a weekend or two, it could get more business during those times.

Evan Engel
Staff Writer
Published Nov. 13, 2013