For many students, entering the Point Cafe this week came with a surprise – a construction site that took up the entire back right corner of the seating area. The small change to the campus landscape seemed to go up overnight, and appeared to be dedicated to building an entirely new room, which raised questions regarding the specific intentions of this sudden development in the layout of the Cafe.

According to Katie Jacob, the General Manager for CulinArt, the answer is simple – the site will soon be home to new offices for the CulinArt management team.

According to Jacob, the need for ample office space is a result of CulinArt’s extensive management team.

“We have ten managers located in our office in the Point Cafe,” Jacob said. “That includes dining directors, April, our controller, and a couple of chefs.”

The current CulinArt office is located in Lawrence Hall near the Point Cafe in the same small hallway as the Center for Inclusive Excellence and the Point Closet. According to Jacob, this site will soon be home to a new department unknown to CulinArt.

According to Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Paylo, that office space will now be an office for summer education, dedicated to online summer classes.

The specific site for the new CulinArt offices was selected, because according to Jacob, it allows for the offices to remain both close and available to students and staff.

However, student reaction to the office move, as well as the new construction, has been mixed.

While some students recognize the necessity of this office space, it does not come without concern.

“CulinArt does need offices, but it sucks that it’s taking up seating space,” Victoria Russic, a freshman screenwriting major said.

Russic also cited her concern with another potential issue brought about by the new office location; the removal of vending machines.

The management offices will fill the space that was previously occupied by seating and vending machines. Those vending machines have been permanently removed.

“It sucks because there are people who use the vending machines all the time,” Russic said. “And now they have to go to Academic [Hall] to use the nearest ones.”

Sierra Dawson, a sophomore biology major, also acknowledged the new absence of vending machines in the Cafe, but did not share the same disdain for the change as other students.

“I personally thought the vending machines were too expensive in the first place,” Dawson said. “So, I never really used them.”

Dawson additionally noted that while peers were quick to disapprove of the placement of the new offices, she thought the new office location wasn’t particularly harmful.

“It kind of makes this space [the Point Cafe’s dining area] smaller which isn’t the coolest thing, but honestly I think I’m okay with that [the new offices] being there,” Dawson said.

The unfinished construction site will not be a long-term fixture, as according to Jacob, the new offices should be completed and open by the time students return from spring break.