When students end an exhausting night of bar-hopping and partying — at, say, 4 a.m. on a Saturday — it seems that demand for a late-night bus route and a 24-hour C-Store is rational. However, the more sobering truth is that the costs associated with some students’ demands do not outweigh the benefits, and do not warrant implementation, regardless of how dire we make it sound.
Campus Enterprises, the not-for-profit organization in charge of University Dining, opened its Bragaw C-Store location 24 hours a day at the start of the 2011-2012 year, only to revert to the original hours fall 2012. Jennifer Gilmore, marketing and communications manager, said the costs associated with opening the Bragaw C-store weren’t very high because the demand wasn’t there, so keeping it open was not economical.
We should still consider the costs associated with our demands. According to Gilmore, the iCafe extended its hours at the behest of students — but again, few students capitalized on the extended hours, and the iCafe began losing money. One thing you don’t want, Gilmore said, is for a not-for-profit organization that raises money for student scholarships, like Campus Enterprises, to have negative cash-flows. So while the hours seemed convenient, our own zeal could have negatively affected us.
The same can be said for the late-night bus routes (Night Wolf, Full Moon, Werewolf, Centennial Night and Wolf Prowl) that were added after students expressed their need for them in a survey. During the day, a packed bus may have around 40 students on it, but according to one Wolfline driver, on average there are three or four people on the new late-night routes. The costs associated with operating five buses late at night are nothing to scoff at,considering fuel prices. According to N.C. State Transportation, it costs close to $5 million to run the Wolfline. And though that money doesn’t come entirely from student fees, the money taken from NCSU’s transportation budget could be used to provide a service with more utility, rather than one four people use.
When students don’t participate in services or programs they ask for, it reflects poorly on the entire student body. The Chancellor’s Chats, which are an informal way for the students to interact with the chancellor about campus issues, saw little to no student attendance last semester. The day may come when the student body, in a fit of zealousness, asks for something, but the request is denied because we “cried wolf” too many times.
