Lobo's closure narrows campus social areas to none

With the weather getting warmer, and the semester coming to a close, wouldn't it be nice to sit and hang out outside with your friends while enjoying some good food on campus? Unfortunately, that perfect scenario is no longer possible now that Lobo’s, one of the only places to hang out on campus and actually have fun, will be closed for the remainder of the semester. 

At the end of April, in the middle of the other campus drama, Sonoma State slipped in an email that Lobo’s would be closed for the remainder of the semester “...due to staffing challenges.” It seems as though the university is having issues either paying student workers or keeping them safe from COVID-19.

Perhaps if the hours of operation made sense, then Lobo’s could have stayed open for the remainder of the semester. This semester, Lobo’s was open from 8am to 3pm Monday through Friday. Typically though, no one wants a ceasar salad or quesadilla at 8 in the morning. 

Brody Niksa, a Criminal Justice student, said, “Obviously it doesn’t really make sense that they’d shut it down with how close we are to summer. Why not just leave it for another week or two? But I mean what else do we expect from Sonoma State?” 

Had the hours been thought through before opening, to open later in the morning and stay open later in the day, more people would have been able to eat at Lobos and spend more money to then keep it open. 

In addition to adjusting the hours to make more sense for college students, the University could also solve the problem of staffing shortages by paying student workers a more competitive rate. The issue student workers tend to have when they work for SSU, is the once a month pay day. This is an ongoing problem that the school needs to face and fix if they want to have a full staff of student employees. 

A previous student employee of Lobos who wishes to remain anonymous talked about how difficult it was to live with only being paid once per month. They mentioned how hard it was to balance paying their bills when they were paid in the middle of the month and the paycheck would vary month by month too. They said, “It didn't make sense to keep working there when I had to live my life based on when I would be paid.”

Dominic DiGrande, a Communications major said, “It's disappointing that the last place to go and eat on campus has closed this close to the end of the semester. Not only did Lobos open very late into the semester, but now the only other option for food on campus is Sip, which has a very limited selection and they close super early in the day.” 

It is sad to see Lobo’s close so close to the end of the semester, knowing the patio would have been the perfect place to enjoy these nice Spring days. The school could have made more of an effort in order to keep this beloved on campus pub open, but unfortunately there was no further explanation other than staffing shortages. Perhaps there is a larger issue at hand within the University, if they were unable to keep their employees for the remaining three weeks left of the semester.