Cadets Ask for Safe Space to be Protected
The Starbucks on the Quad, often called “Quadbucks” by the students who frequently study there, was constructed as a way for non-regs and cadets to come together in a friendly environment. The large facility was supposed to improve relationships between the Corps of Cadets and the student body at large.
At first, the Starbucks and its attached study rooms were used to great effect. Non-regs and cadets came together to collaborate on projects and form study groups. Cadets were happy to find that the new Starbucks and its proximity to the Quad provided a permanent location in which they could easily find boot chasers. The symbiotic relationship was so strong that even banner holding began outside the Quadbucks’ doors.
Despite these positive effects, trouble in paradise began once non-reg men started to use the study rooms hidden within the building. The presence of non-regs triggered cadets and made them feel insecure as they were forced to witness the display of non-reg privilege through demonstrations such as long locks of hair and poorly kept facial hair. The promised land of good coffee and boot chasers was shattered as a cadet’s natural enemy began to overtake their home turf.
The conflict between the two groups resulted in the cadets finding their safe spaces in study rooms deeper in the Quad. Rather than use the Starbucks as a place for meeting people outside the Corps, cadets now abandon the location after getting their coffee.
“I like to study in the Starbucks in hopes of finding a boyfriend, except I never see any Corps guys in here anymore,” said Kara Frye, a freshman Psychology major and Kappa Delta member. “I do have straight A’s from all the time I have spent in here though,” said Frye.
In order to prevent people from taking to the study rooms to watch Netflix all night, cadets are hoping to create sensible regulation for use of the rooms. The current proposal calls for requiring the student ID of a cadet to gain access to the Starbucks study rooms.
“At the start of the year it wasn’t a big deal. We could work on group projects with them…now they just sit in the study rooms on their phones. It defeats the purpose of having the rooms in the first place,” said Alex Story, a junior Computer Science major. “At this point, I just want the university to establish a safe space where only cadets can reserve the rooms. I am the one who has to survive the Corps, so I should at least get to use the rooms myself.”
Other cadets have voiced their support for a more extreme measure to protect their safe space within the Starbucks.
“We’re going to build a wall. Let me tell you, it’s going to be a beautiful wall and it will stop all the non-regs from immigrating into our Starbucks,” said Donald Beauregard, a senior cadet. “Do you know the best part? The non-regs are going to pay for it with their student fees, just like they paid to renovate our first deck seats.”
The cadets hope Quad Wall construction will begin this year and will be completed sometime around 2030.
—Lil’ Event & Netflix and Drill
