Student Council's Building and Grounds Committee and University Dining Services recently reached an agreement to extend Wilsdorf Cafe's hours of operation by two hours until 5 p.m. The new hours will begin today and last until the end of the semester as part of a trial period established in response to overwhelming student support for the idea on Council's SpeakUp UVA Web site.
Building and Grounds Co-Chair Kate Hartmann said the idea received 85 votes of approval on the Web site, leading Council members to believe that this was an issue of importance to a significant number of students. But officials from Dining Services initially raised concerns about the extended hours, and so the idea of a trial period was offered for consideration.
"They said they wanted to see this happen but ... they need to be financially sustainable," she said, explaining that the cafe will not stay open longer next semester if it does not earn sufficient revenue. The continuation of the extended hours is contingent upon the trial period's success, Dining Services Marketing Manager Nicole Jackson said.
"We are starting longer hours ... to gauge interest and sales," Jackson said, adding that if revenue during the extended hours is low when officials assess sales at the end of the semester, the cafe will resume its former hours.
Nevertheless, Hartmann remained confident in the initiative, noting that the extended hours will benefit Engineering students.
"It's about really making it available for these people," she said, noting that many participants in SpeakUp UVA wanted to extend the cafe's hours to 8 p.m. Second-year Engineering student Aaron Cardoza applauded the idea to extend the cafe's hours from 3 to 5 p.m., adding that he would like to see the cafe remain open even later.
"Most places are closed late at night," he said. "If they could open even longer that'd be nice because dining halls close pretty early."
Second-year Engineering student Ashwin Katikapalli said he hopes similar University dining areas will follow suit.
"It'd be great if the trend carried over to other places like the West Range," he said.
If the program proves successful, it may indeed expand to other dining areas on Grounds like the Fine Arts Cafe for Architecture students who stay late in the studio, Hartmann said.
Additionally, Hartmann noted that Wilsdorf had attempted a similar, but unsuccessful venture in the past, noting that the venture may have failed because students were unaware of the extended hours. Dining Services is working, however, to address the problems it encountered in the past to propel the success of the new program.
"U.Va Dining will be setting up table tents, putting up the flyers ... they're going to do a lot of publicity," Hartmann said, adding that a University-wide e-mail blast also could be forthcoming.
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