Art by Samantha Miller
It’s a Friday night, and a Pepperdine student is without a car on campus. Their mini-fridge has been empty for weeks, yet they open it to look for a glimmer of hope. Maybe that hope is a box of leftovers that has been jailed in between frigid walls for a week. Perhaps a half-eaten Howdy’s burrito? Nope. All they can find are just a few plastic containers of old Caf food that are well past expiration.
It’s fine, it’s not even late enough to feel famished. At around 10:45 p.m., cravings start to stir in the pit of the stomach, and hot food is all that comes to mind. Stuck on campus, one is locked within the constraints of transportation — or lack thereof. Maybe the HAWC could help?
According to the Dining Services website hours for the HAWC, students would have approximately 15 minutes to get out of their on-campus housing, walk to the edge of main campus, and run in to place an order of chicken tenders. One might even have enough time to grab something from the HAWC’s small convenience store that usually looks like an apocalyptic ruin where everyone is stocking up on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Yerba Mates.
Pepperdine lacks sufficient dining resources for on-campus students after normal business hours. Due to transportation barriers — such as early shuttle hours and students not having cars — when classes are over, students are left to their own devices. First-years are especially affected because their parking is limited to the Drescher graduate campus in order to “facilitate parking availability in areas of higher demand.“
Though the University technically offers nine dining options on the Malibu campus, many live in residences without a kitchen, so when late-night cravings continue to eat away, funnily enough, the students aren’t.
The University, and many businesses in Malibu, have made it abundantly clear that anything open past 9 p.m., is a miracle, which is reflective of the city’s quiet hours that begin at 10 p.m.
Because students have few options, the University should adjust dining hours to better accommodate student life.
Though the HAWC is Pepperdine’s proclaimed “late-night” spot, the dining location is not always convenient for student life since it randomly closes at certain hours of the night. However, the HAWC is not to blame for this fiasco. One would think that the Caf would accommodate students, especially since it frequently acts as a meeting hub and is consistently busy. That is, until 8 p.m.
The Caf is even more discourteous and operates from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Given the limited time frame, students are stranded after-hours and need to eat early if they want to catch dinner.
The University needs to extend dining hours for students who reside on campus. Staying open until midnight would be more considerate of the average college student’s schedule.
Pepperdine must take into consideration the needs of the community, keeping in mind the lack of dining options many students face in dorm-style living.
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Email Emma Ibarra: emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu
Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
