editorial

Author: [no author name found]

College should offer moral support to struggling cafe - and not more

The timing is, admittedly, unfortunate. Around the time that Dean of the College Tim Spears was hatching his grand vision for the space formerly occupied by the Eat Good Food restaurant, the owner of Middlebury's only coffee shop broke the news to his most loyal customers that he might have to close his doors. Students responded to the College's plans for a trendy, upscale "chocolate bar" in the Eat Good Food space with apathy and what can only be characterized as, at best, lukewarm interest - and townspeople and members of the College community alike expressed their sadness that Carol's Hungry Mind Café, the two-year-old coffee shop on Main Street, might fold in coming months.

Early reports that the café would summarily close up shop have been revised in recent days, Carol's owner John Melanson told The Campus this week. This announcement will likely do little to quell the anxieties of Carol's devotees, some of whom - including D.E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini - have suggested the College should abandon plans for the Eat Good Food space and rally, instead, to Carol's defense.

We hope the College will support the café's efforts in the coming months to adapt its business practices and regain its financial footing. We hope, too, that fans of the coffee shop will commit themselves to keeping the cozy joint afloat. But expecting the College to keep Carol's functioning is unrealistic and counterproductive. The job of reviving the coffee shop must fall to its customers - a commitment by the College of much more than moral and limited financial support would set questionable precedent for dealings between the College and town businesses. However important Carol's is to many professors and students, the institution cannot, unfortunately, leap to the defense of every charming yet floundering enterprise within our much-loved town's boundaries.

The College has, indeed, extended its reach into town at a rapid-fire pace this year - but with its own interests at heart in all instances. The partnership with the Town Hall Theater, donations for a new bridge over Otter Creek and the Eat Good Food project have all unfolded in the last few months. Most recently, the College acquired the Old Stone Mill with plans to create additional studio and gallery space. Talk of town-gown relations, bridging the gap between the College and the town and the benefit of these enterprises to local residents has cropped up with each endeavor. This is true to a certain extent, but at the end of the day, the Town Hall Theater will showcase student productions, the Old Stone Mill will house student studios and artwork and the Eat Good Food space will presumably be designed with a student clientele in mind. Residents' needs will be incorporated into all of these venues, but seem decidedly secondary - they all will, ultimately, be very College-oriented spaces.

The community - on and off campus - yearns for spaces like Carol's - places that do just what the College purports to do, places that bridge the gap between students and their Vermont neighbors. As further plans develop for the Eat Good Food space, we hope College officials will remember this desire. And as Carol's looks to its uncertain future, we hope individuals in the College community sidle in for that extra cup of coffee or chime in with creative ideas for making ends meet.