Memo

 

To:      Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President of the City College of New York

From: Pitcha Sudjaritjuntorn, student at the City College of New York

Date:  September 11, 2018

Re:      Limited seating area in the North Academic Center cafeteria

 

Background

I am a freshman at the City College of New York and I would like to address an ongoing issue occurring here at this institution; limited seating area in the North Academic Center cafeteria. Many students leave class to find that there is no space for them to sit. This causes an overwhelming situation, which leads to many of them to scour the campus to find somewhere else to sit. Most of the time when there are no seats in the cafeteria, there are also barely any sitting area in the library as well, which leads to students looking for a place outside, hallways, or perhaps even outside the campus. There are several reasons why this can cause a problem:

• Sitting outside the buildings is a common thing, but what happens when the temperature decreases, and it is harder to tolerate the weather? It is more likely that the students will choose to go inside to warm up. However, if there is no seating, then the students will have to face the extreme weather and can develop a sickness.
• When students are looking for a place to sit, they usually want a space to do their homework or study, sitting in the hallways or outside has limited tables, which can make it more difficult for the student to use the space to study or do homework while using a laptop or notebook.
• Sitting in farther places can make it difficult for the students to travel to their classes. This can cause students to go to class late and that can affect their attendance record.
• If a student has no place to sit, then they might loiter around the campus and go to places that they are not supposed to go.
• A crowded cafeteria can cause a person with claustrophobia to be uncomfortable in spaces with many people together.
• Students go to the cafeteria to eat food, if there is no space then the student will go somewhere else to eat. They might go eat at a place that restricts eating without them knowing that and the students can face consequences they did not ask for. The cafeteria is a more suitable place to eat food.

 

Solution

I suggest that the college should extend the NAC building or renovate it to make it bigger and have more space. Alternatively, we can try to find another space on campus such as the Shepard Music building or the Spitzer School of Architecture building and use an unoccupied area to turn it into a sitting area for students. If there is more sitting area for students, then it will make their lives easier; students will not have to wait to sit at a table for 30 minutes or so just to wait for a group to finish eating their lunch. Students also will have an area fully equipped with tables and chairs that they can use to do their homework and put their electronic devices on rather than putting it on their laps, which can cause it to fall and break. I also suggest putting more money in the school budget to purchase more tables and chairs for the cafeteria. There are many empty open spaces in other buildings on the campus, for example, the grassy field behind the Shepard Music building can become a sitting area with tables and chairs. We can also consider building a small café or eating area in the lobby (entrance) of the Grove School of Engineering building. This situation needs to be taken cared of and therefore, students will be able to find a place to eat and relax after their classes.

Please follow-up with a meeting, if you have any questions feel free to contact me. My email is psudjar000@citymail.cuny.edu.