The Kessel Student Center is home to many student friendly things, one of them being the main Cafeteria we have here on the Pleasantville campus. Other than the main cafeteria there aren’t many options on campus where students can get full quality meals. With that in mind, it’s interesting to know that once the semester begins to wind down so does Kessel’s hours of operation, which is within reason. However, it gets to a point where students can still be in class taking finals and once they get out Kessel is closed.

In a situation like that students are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They now have to figure out where their source of food is going to come from and at that point in the semester meal plan money could be low, flex money could be low, income could be low, as a matter of fact it can just be an overall low point for finances period. After taking finals and dealing with nights of cramming and studying the last thing on any student’s mind should be worrying about if the cafeteria is open or not.

Knowing that the cafeteria closes earlier than usual around finals week adds on to the stress of students. It messes up the balance of their planning because now students have to figure out when they plan to take the time out to get food in the midst of their studies and at the same time make sure that they have something to fill their stomachs with later on after a hard day of work.

Students need something convenient and consistent. If Kessel is convenient and consistent throughout the semester, why switch it up now?  Students should be able to go about their business during finals week knowing that finding a meal in the afternoon, closer to the evening, will not be an issue. Pace students do not have that luxury and it is hard to understand why that is.

I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation as to why the cafeteria closes earlier than usual but something like that should be communicated throughout the Pace community. Students should be provided with an email or some sort of notification on the hours of operation the cafeteria goes by when the semester starts to come to an end. Information like that would be vital to know and would save a lot of time and frustration that is inevitable to happen.