FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
FALL 2025 | ISSUE 3 WHAT’S INSIDE:
OPINION
Book bannings: Protecting children or reducing rights?
Students dissatisfied with Market Cafe BY GRANT TERWILLIGER News Editor
As a new semester starts and Tim Hortons is now closed, the Cardinal Cafe on campus adapts to having to serve a larger number of students and training of new employees contributing to inconsistency and efficiency issues. The Market Cafe on campus is still very new to campus with this being the second semester of it being open. Students feel that the Market Cafe is conveniently located, but doesn’t compare very well to corporate Starbucks locations. “The only thing is convenience. If you’re walking to class, and you only have 20 or 30 minutes it doesn’t make sense at all to go off campus,” First year Khadeejah Memon said. “I went to Starbucks once and then I found out that they didn’t have the app. So, then I didn’t even order from there.” Daniel Leatherman is the new Resident District Manager for dining services on campus. This semester with CAS he has been working to elevate food menus on campus and has brought back the popular option to order any grande beverage for a meal swipe at the market. Leatherman acknowledges that students are always looking for ways to save money and earn points with Starbucks. “We know that many students love Starbucks Rewards and we hear how important it is to you. Because our campus café is a licensed Starbucks ‘We Proudly Serve’ location and not a corporate store, we aren’t able to participate in the Starbucks Rewards program,” Leatherman said. “We’re always exploring other ways to bring value and perks to our guests right here on campus.” The prices at the market have
MICHAEL PURTELL/Cardinal Points
Plattsburgh student Gabriel Harring orders his breakfast from the Market Cafe Sept. 26. also been a concern for students on campus with everything becoming more expensive as a result of inflation and convenience. “I feel like the prices are kind of wildly high, but I feel like it’s just college; they’re high everywhere on campus,” Memon said. The Market Cafe has faced obstacles with their food not being consistently made well. Some students have reported there being less amount on bagels and have noted that the workers are not always efficient. “It’s never the same. Sometimes I get a spoonful of cream
cheese. Other times they put half a brick on it. Like, are they not trained to put a certain amount of cream cheese on a bagel,” Libbie Pecora said. “They are not trained, you can tell by the quality and the consistency of the product,” Pecora said. This doesn’t necessarily mean though that every worker at the Market Cafe is inconsistent. Some workers go the extra mile for students. “Jose is the best. He always makes my coffee, and when they didn’t train him on how to make them, he went to YouTube and watched videos on how to make all the Starbucks drinks,
and he makes them perfectly,” Pecora said. According to Leatherman Chartwells associates are trained for a week and then are expected to continue their training on the job. “At a minimum, Chartwells associates undergo a week of onsite onboarding. They are paired with a mentor who guides them through their daily tasks using a structured onboarding plan. Additionally, we have introduced a proprietary internal app this semester that extends their learning experience throughout their career with us,” Leatherman said. As new employees get accli-
mated into working at the cafe employees with more experience find themselves having to constantly watch the new employees while working. “The newer employees that are working there, the older ones with more experience tell them what to do as they’re going, they just walk around so confused,” Pecora said.
Email GRANT TERWILLIGER cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
SA, Federal budgets face slashes on campus BY ERNESTO CASTORENA Contributor
Across SUNY Plattsburgh, the phrase ‘budget cuts’ carries different meanings depending on where the funds originate. For clubs recognized by the Student Association (SA) budgets rise and fall with enrollment. For TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) funding follows a federal grant cycle. For clubs, constraints start early. Galilean Society president Kaelyn DeKalb said that funding requires detailed planning well in advance with the following semester’s activities mapped out before even receiving funds. Even then, some opportunities get lost. “We’d hold a lot more events with food. We wanted to do one last semester with astronaut food, but didn’t end up doing that because we had two clubs collaborating and no funds,” Dekalb said. This year, the Galilean Society was required to submit a budget smaller than the year before trimming $50 to $75
via Adobe Stock
from its plans. But with unique and academic goals to visit a planetarium in Montréal and an observatory in Tupper Lake even a modest cut can mean fewer trips, events and opportunities for students. “We just lost twin valleys,
which had an observatory. We don’t have that anymore,” Dekalb said. On the SA side, limits are set by enrollment. Director of Student Activities Sarah McCarty said that club budgets depend on student enrollment and
must be carefully matched to avoid overspending. “Students within the SA do some cuts across the board in order to stabilize their budget,” McCarty said. To address the reductions and looking ahead with 77
clubs registered, SA Advisor Tyler Hargraves, seeks to add small additions to club funds each semester. “We’re reducing club budgets by 20%, but what we are doing to supplement that is adding another $5,000 to additional allocations each semester,” Hargraves said. “Would they see a reduction? Potentially, but would it be a drastic reduction? No. It’s all based on enrollment.” While that is the case Hargraves emphasizes there are multiple resources to help with funds, including CAS grants for travel and programming, and resources such as decorations that have been stored by the SA ready to be reused. Enrollment numbers directly determine how much funding is available because each student pays a mandatory Student Activity Fee. If the student body were to vote to make the fee voluntary each student could opt out potentially shrinking the SA budget dramatically. BUDGET > 2