By BRITTNEY FRENCH
By KHOLOOD EID
Students in the cyber cafe on a Tuesday evening are left without options for latenight refreshments on campus.
Webster University administrators are extending the hours of Kaldi’s Coffeehouse for the months of December and January as a result of the fall 2009 Delegates’ Agenda.
Kaldi’s, the new coffeehouse inside Emerson Library, will stay open until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday as part of a trial period. They close at 4 p.m. during the week.
Kaldis is a local coffeeshop chain with four locations in St. Louis. Other Kaldi’s in the area, such as the Kirkwood location, are open until 10 p.m.
Last year, when Kaldi’s was Jazzman’s Café’, the coffeehouse stayed open until 9 p.m.
At the follow-up Delegates’ Agenda meeting in the West Hall multipurpose room Nov. 2, the administration panel asked students to help promote the trial-based hours at Kaldi’s in order to create enough business for WU and Sodexo to consider permanently extending the hours after January.
“I think it’s a good idea for WU to have a trial run for Kaldi’s hours,” junior psychology major Evey Danzo said.
Other students, like senior public relations major Edward Staples, said it wouldn’t make a difference if the hours of the coffeehouse are extended.
Nick Dunne, SGA sergeant-at-arms and junior public relations major, proposed the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) work on a marketing campaign for Kaldi’s. The organization looks for a topic to promote each semester to help PRSA members gain work experience.
But after the PRSA decided to restructure their organization this semester, they will not be working on any campaign until spring 2010.
“We want to restructure the organization to see what members want first,” Dunne said. “Nothing is set in stone and it’s hard to work on a campaign when we don’t know what’s happening with the organization.”
Since the PRSA will not be marketing the extended hours at Kaldi’s this semester, the student board of directors for dining services plans on taking over the promotional campaign.
They could not be reached for comment before The Journal went to print.
Aubrey Gohl, SGA director of public relations and sophomore public relations major, said members of the student board of dining services will not be meeting with WU administrators until Nov. 24, to discuss any marketing campaign.
At the fall 2009 Delegates’ Agenda on Oct. 1, Lauren Meyer, a senior business administration and human resource management major, presented the issue of extending the hours at Kaldi’s because evening students are not able to get coffee before class. She suggested the coffeehouse stay open until at least 5:30 p.m.
Other local universities have coffee shops and cafés that stay open until at least 6 p.m. on weeknights. Shops, such as Lindenwood University’s Java 101 and Java 102, are open until 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively.
