C-Store removal the wrong move

staff

Editorial Board

Issue: SDSU recently removed the C-Store from Medary Market in lieu of an additional C-Store located in the new Wellness Center.

If you took a look at a campus map, you would notice that most of the larger venues for student recreation and eating are on the east half of campus. If you use the Rotunda, Depuy Military Hall and Hilton Briggs Library to form an imaginary line, campus is divided into two halves. The Wellness Center, Frost Arena, Larson Commons and its larger C-Store and even the University Student Union are all on the eastern half.

This is rightly so, considering that fact that the majority of student residences are also on that side of campus. However, this leaves out many buildings and the students in Hansen, Berg, Bailey and Waneta Halls that are situated on the west side of campus and are somewhat removed and isolated.

The removal of the C-Store from Medary Market only excludes these students more. True, many of these students have chances to eat at The Union or other places as they march around campus to their different classes, but that doesn’t mean that those facilities on the west side of campus aren’t important. The fact that more options are being added at the Wellness Center – included a convenience store and a Starbucks – while they are being taken away from students on the other side of campus is interesting in itself.

The number of students who are willing to walk across campus to the C-Store in Larson Commons or the convenience store in the Wellness Center – especially in the dead of winter when all they want is a half-gallon of milk – is probably going to be few. If they do go there, they are going to be more likely to drive, which will congest parking even more so in those lots, leading to problems with residents and commuters parking where they shouldn’t. Those who drive and get a little frustrated are simply going to skip buying their food from the Jackrabbit C-Store altogether and drive a little further to Wal-Mart to purchase items at a cheaper price.

With the number of students at SDSU rising at the rates we’ve seen, this isn’t the time to be removing options from the campus. While the options being added on the east side are important, taking away from the west side of campus is only going to lead to students being unhappy with the university. The administration that authorized this removal needs to take a closer look at what is needed and wanted by the students on both sides of campus and work to fulfill those wants and needs in order to make all students’ experiences at SDSU better.

Stance: During an unprecedented time of change at SDSU, the administration cannot forget the basics. The Medary C-Store was an important resource for students and needs to be replaced.