Opinion
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 7 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019
Centennial Campus food options lack flavor { EDITORIAL } N
C State’s Centennial Campus is geared primarily toward its engineering students, of which there were over 6,000 undergraduates last year. 1,000 of these were full-time first-years, meaning they were required to live on campus. While there are a multitude of apartments on campus owned both privately and by the school, students can’t survive on a bed alone; they also need places to eat. Main Campus students may get tired of the dining halls after a while, but it’s only a short walk to Hillsborough Street when the cravings kick in for Chipotle or Taco Bell. NC State is an engineering school, and the NC State Engineering Foundation raised over $39.2 million last year, $3.3 million of which directly benefited the college. Yet, our engineering students are starved for dining locations. By far the largest dining area on Cen-
The unsigned editorial is the opinion of the members of Technician’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor-in-chief. tennial is On the Oval, which consists of five separate restaurants. All of these restaurants close at 2 or 3 p.m. every single day and are closed all day on weekends, with the exception of Gravity Cafe, which has a separate seating area and is open until 10 p.m. On the Oval seats over 400 students when it’s open, but Gravity only seats up to 25. Students’ other on-campus options are limited at best. Port City Java in Engineering Building II, Common Grounds at Hunt Library and Shuttle Inn Cafe, a convenience store, serve little more than coffee or snacks. Other locations, like the State Club Restaurant in the Park Alumni
Center and Terrace Dining Room on Lonnie Poole Golf Course, accept Dining Dollars but are too far to be considered within feasible walking distance. NC State has resorted to outsourcing its dining options to privately owned food trucks in the Raleigh area, but even those don’t stay on campus past 1:30 p.m. They also do not accept Dining Dollars, aren’t particularly healthy and still require a considerable walk from Centennial housing. Of the above locations, only On the Oval and the coffee shops accept meal credits, meaning students’ only options for dinner on a meal plan at Centennial
Campus are Gravity Cafe and Common Grounds. While students could theoretically sustain themselves by eating at these locations every single day, doing so would take a toll on both their physical and mental health, meaning Centennial Campus forces its prized engineering students, some of the brightest in the country, to choose: Spend out of pocket or starve. While other parts of campus may have difficulty finding food options between classes or which fit into their dietary requirements and preferences, Centennial Campus students are forced to take what they can get. With a grand total of two locations and less than 50 seats that accept meal plans during dinner hours, engineering students, who already pay additional fees for “program enhancement,” shouldn’t have to pay extra to find decent food a reasonable distance from their homes away from home.
Burr should support resolution to end national emergency On Feb. 15, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in response to what he has described as a “crisis” on the southern border. This emergency is dubious on its Noah face: Illegal immigration is Jabusch at its lowest levels since 2000; Opinion Editor many border crossings are by Central American refugees fleeing violence; and most illegal immigration actually results from overstaying visas, not border crossings. However, the president is planning to use this emergency to take funds from military construction and counter-drug trafficking operations and use them for his border wall. Fortunately, both Congress and the judicial branch have taken up measures to prevent this
emergency from going into effect. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a resolution which would end the emergency, and 16 states have filed a lawsuit to stop the declaration. The resolution is now being considered by the Senate, where it would need 51 votes to pass, including some from Republicans. To that end, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina should vote in favor of the resolution, to assert control over this wild executive overreach. Although the lawsuit seems more likely to succeed, since a number of the president’s executive orders have previously been successfully blocked in court, the House resolution would send a powerful message by potentially forcing the president to issue his first veto. This veto likely wouldn’t be overridden; however, to reach the president’s desk at all,
the resolution first needs to pass the Senate. The bill currently has support from 50 senators: All 45 Democrats, two Independents and three Republicans have indicated support for the measure. Notably, one of the Republicans was Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina, who is up for reelection in 2020. However, Burr has not yet come out in favor of the legislation. This position, although consistent with Burr’s past stances on immigration, should trouble North Carolinians and students at NC State. The president is aiming to draw funds from military construction and anti-drug trafficking operations in order to build the wall. North Carolina, in addition to hosting a number of prominent military bases, has an opioid death rate higher than the national average, so losing money which combats the
drug trade especially hurts our state. The declaration, the wall and the counterfactual narrative underlying them all support the idea that immigrants are dangerous to America’s economy and society. These notions run contrary to NC State’s ideals of diversity and our status as home to thousands of international students and immigrants. Our representatives and senators have a duty to represent our state’s interests, and this emergency declaration does not uphold our interests. Tillis should be recognized for standing up to his party and Trump for once, and Burr must follow suit by putting his state over partisan considerations. 2022 isn’t that far away, and Burr’s complacency today should worry him if he decides to seek reelection in the future. North Carolina and NC State deserve better.
