[Englecturers] Coffee Update (and related matters)

[Carole Fabricant]

Hi folks,

A couple of things to report since my last communication.  Andy 
Plumley replied to my email, saying that the coffee "bus" (it's a 
truck!) was only temporary until a planned coffee "store" (the word 
choice didn't inspire confidence) opens in Phase II of the Commons 
construction.  I gather that others of you who also emailed him 
received a similar reply.

I had "cc'd" the email to several UCR administrators and the next day 
discovered that Acting Chancellor Grey had passed my letter on to EVC 
Wartella (whom I'd forgotten to "cc"), who in turn passed it along to 
Al Diaz, the Vice-Chancellor (one of approximately 8,345 by my most 
recent estimate) for Commons Facilities, including Dining, Design, 
and Construction.  She apparently urged Diaz to contact me (which he 
did) in order to respond to my concerns.  I accordingly arranged a 
meeting with Diaz, who suggested that Plumley be included.

Last Wednesday afternoon I met both Diaz and Plumley near the 
entrance to the Bookstore.  The location was my idea, as I not only 
had a few things to say to them (!) but also wanted them to give me a 
tour of the Commons and show me exactly where the new coffee place 
would be located, as well as point out any additional spaces under 
construction that might be serviceable as faculty lounges, hang-out 
joints, etc.

I was immediately taken to the Printing and Reproduction 'Shop' (the 
place where you go to have readers made up for your classes).  The 
people behind the desk glared at us in a none-too-friendly manner -- 
the reason for which I understood better after I was told that they 
were being ejected from the premises to make way for the coffee 
"store".  I would like to think that the apparent imminence of this 
removal was in some way related to the flood of angry emails Plumley 
received about the absence of a coffee venue on campus.  P assured me 
(several times) that the remodeling of the space would begin very 
soon and that the coffee "store" would be up and running sometime 
during the spring quarter -- though he also kept mumbling to himself 
that they first had to find an architect (which didn't inspire 
confidence that it would be ready anytime soon).  I think we'll have 
to maintain a close surveillance of the premises (pardon my Homeland 
Security lingo) to make sure that satisfactory progress is being made 
and that the projected date of opening doesn't keep disappearing into 
the distant future.

The space itself isn't bad (though perhaps not as spacious as one 
would like).  It has definite potential and could (in the right hands 
and under the right direction) be turned into a satisfactory coffee 
venue to drink, mingle, and relax in.  P suggested the model of 
Starbuck's (which I guess is a step up from a shopping mall food 
court) but I countered with a less sterile and plastic model.  I 
emphasized the importance of comfortable seating, the right kind of 
lighting (preferably not the kind of florescent overheads used in 
U.S. torture chambers abroad), and the need to extend the hours well 
into the evening.  I also suggested that it be designated a 
laptop-free zone so that the venue doesn't turn into a study-hall for 
undergrads or a place where they set up their computers and play 
video-games or go on MySpace for hours on end.  The undergrads 
actually have several quite decent lounges in the Commons which are 
already furnished and open; it's the grown-ups (yes, there are a few 
of us around) who don't have anywhere to hang out or interact.

I then explained to P & D the difference between a coffee "store" and 
a coffee-house, making it clear it's the latter we want.  P in 
particular seemed very taken with this distinction and declared that 
from now on what they would be building is a coffee-house.  I'd like 
to think more than semantics are involved here.  P suggested that one 
of the walls of the Printing Shop could be broken down in order to 
link the coffee-house to the bookstore, along the model of a Barnes 
and Noble.  Given the kind of bookstore we have I'm not sure that's 
such a good idea, especially if it will absorb the coffee-house into 
what is an essentially commercial (not to mention ugly-as-sin) venue; 
but some modification of that idea might be the best we can hope 
for.  Let's face it, a Cafe Trieste (SF) or a Caffe Reggio (NYC) it's 
not going to be; this is Riverside, after all.  But maybe we can 
maintain enough pressure to make it as close to one of those venues 
as reasonably possible.  Nothing is yet set in stone re the 
coffee-house (other than its location) so now is the time to push 
ahead for what we want.  If you have any suggestions in this regard 
please send them along to me.

I won't bother describing the rest of my tour of the Commons except 
to say that there are actually a few spaces in it with a bit of 
(human/communal/aesthetic) potential.  (Maybe we can get together a 
band of raiders to try to "liberate" a couple of these -- I don't 
think they'd necessarily be missed.)  D waxed enthusiastic over what 
he kept calling the "Piazza" -- the area below the second-floor patio 
with (rather ugly and uncomfortable) chairs and tables along the 
perimeter.  For a moment I got carried away and asked where the 
fountain would be situated.  D looked at me as though I were 
crazy.  Oops, I guess he didn't have the Piazza Navona in mind.  Oh well.

I did though forge ahead and stress the need for landscaping -- for 
trees and greenery all around that side of the Commons -- and D 
assured me those were part of the plans.  For those of you who 
haven't been keeping abreast of things, huge swaths of the natural 
environment on campus (e.g., the lower playing fields) have been 
destroyed and are being covered over by ugly slabs of concrete -- 
mainly to accommodate the needs of Engineering, Business & 
Management, etc.  (And wait until the plans for the Medical School 
progress a little further -- that will bring a whole new chapter in 
the horror story of what's occurring on campus.)  I told D the 
faculty would be very upset at any further destruction of the natural 
surroundings to make space for more ugly concrete structures, 
especially (but not only) around the Commons area.  He seemed to be listening.

I don't think D (nor the EVC, nor anyone else up the food chain) 
wants the faculty to be upset -- or at least they don't want them to 
express their upset in public, attention-getting ways that would tap 
into (and roil the waters of) what is obviously a deep well of 
discontent at UCR.  I have no illusions about why P & D asked to meet 
with me -- it certainly wasn't because they're seriously interested 
in hearing my ideas about what a real university campus should look 
like and offer its members.  Their aim was damage control, pure and 
simple.  Still, I think we can make use of that motivation for our 
own purposes, to try to exert at least some modicum of control over 
our surroundings and ensure that D's "piazza" doesn't insidiously 
turn into something that looks like a WalMart Plaza.

I want to conclude by mentioning one other (very necessary!) project 
that goes hand-in-hand with the coffee-house: a campus pub.  I raised 
this issue with Plumley -- specifically, about turning the Barn 
(back) into a pub (a real, British- or Irish-style pub) -- and he 
expressed interest in pursuing the possibility.  It's absolutely 
scandalous that there's no place on this campus where grown-ups 
(faculty and grad students) can get together and relax and converse 
over some good ale or stout (or whatever your favorite liquid 
indulgence is), especially in the evenings after many of us get out 
of class and have to traverse a dark, largely abandoned campus that 
might as well have a "Closed" sign hung up on it.

There are many places in the world where such a campus would prompt 
students (and faculty!) to march in protest, man the barricades and 
nail 95 Theses on the door of every Administration Building in 
sight.  That's not because there are more alcoholics or coffee 
addicts on foreign campuses but because they have an understanding 
that a real education encompasses a range of experiences that can't 
be reduced to formal classroom or lecture-hall activity.  We 
dutifully trudge from one overly formal and over-orchestrated 
academic event to another, which invariably take place in ugly 
sterile-looking boxes housed in ugly sterile-looking structures that 
have the effect of numbing the mind and soul.  Does anyone really 
believe that this is what genuine intellectual engagement is all 
about?  Where are the spaces on this campus where spontaneous, 
creative (and, I might add, "critical" in every sense of the word) 
ideas can flourish and be expressed?  But I guess that's just the 
point -- what use do such ideas have for the kind of highly 
bureaucratized and corporatized institution that UCR has become?

I'd estimate that a good 60% of the learning that goes on at Trinity 
College, Dublin (for students and faculty alike) takes place in pubs 
in and around campus.  Ditto (only moreso) the learning in French 
universities that takes place in cafes on and around campuses.  I 
daresay a substantial chunk of the greatest literature and philosophy 
of the 20th century would never have been produced if venues like 
taverns, coffee-houses, piazzas, and cafes didn't exist.  I realize 
that U.S. academic culture is very different from the European one; 
but even in this country, truly outstanding colleges and universities 
tend to have campuses that encourage maximum interaction among campus 
members in comfortable and sociable venues where ideas as well as 
liquor (or java) can flow freely.  I'd be willing to give 10-to-1 
odds that the very institutions UCR is desperately trying to emulate 
and always wants to be compared with have campuses of this congenial 
nature.  So how come we don't try to imitate them in this regard as 
well as in others (that are often far less achievable)?

Needless to say I didn't put the matter in quite these terms to 
Plumley.  He (like the other 8,345 V-C's running the campus these 
days) is a 'for-profit' kind of guy and couldn't care less about 
genuine intellectual engagement or the spontaneous flow of ideas.  He 
is however interested in the spontaneous (or maybe more organized) 
flow of cash and accumulation of capital, so my observation that a 
pub on campus would attract a clientele with disposable income that 
at the moment spends its money elsewhere, in bars and restaurants 
around town, did make an impression.  He told me that the campus 
liquor license is held by the University Club (which of course at the 
moment has no home since it was thrown out of its old digs by the 
School of Management) and that it would presumably have to approve 
the selling of alcohol anywhere on campus.  (This is a new one to me; 
in the old days liquor was available in various different venues 
around campus, at receptions, lectures, etc., and no one needed to 
give [or get] 'permission' from anyone.)  P is on the University 
Club's Board of Directors and said he would present this idea to them 
at their next meeting.  I told him I'd draw up a design for the 
inside of the new Barn pub.  There is of course the little matter of 
where the money for the renovation will come from -- but I think we 
need to deal with one thing at a time here.

In closing, my thanks to the many of you who heeded my request to 
send Plumley an email and /or who let me know that you support my 
efforts to improve the quality of life on campus.  Since I'm not 
necessarily going to continue circulating lengthy emails to the 
entire department, I would appreciate hearing from others of you 
(either by email or a note left in my mailbox; my office phone still 
doesn't work) who agree with what I'm doing and I'll make sure to 
include you on an ever-growing list of people who have seconded my 
complaints and want to be kept in the loop about developments on the 
coffee/Commons/pub front.

Even a quick note of general interest and agreement is fine at this 
point and something I'd be happy to receive.  But I'd also like to 
hear from those of you who would be willing to help out in various 
ways.  Toward the end of this quarter I'd like to start paying 
regular visits to the site of the new coffee-house (i.e., the present 
Print Shop) to monitor the progress of the construction and (if need 
be) to contact Plumley with concerns about delays or the slowness of 
the process; but because of my own hectic schedule when I'm in 
Riverside I won't be able to do this alone.  If you're willing to 
help out in this regard please let me know.  I also intend to offer 
my services to help pick out furniture for the coffee-house -- anyone 
interested in doing this with me?  I could also use some assistance 
in drawing up plans for the interior of the Barn pub.  I've certainly 
spent enough time in pubs to know what a good one should look like 
(no smirks or snide remarks, please) but my draughtsman's skills are, 
alas, limited.  (Down the road I might also need your help in trying 
to convince the relevant boards of directors and administrative 
bodies that they should get behind the idea of a campus 
pub.)  Finally (for now), let me know if there are any of you willing 
to walk around the campus and note down areas of greenery that we 
should insist upon retaining in the face of the mindless expansion 
currently taking place here.  If we don't identify these places now 
and make it clear to the Powers That Be that we're willing to fight 
for their continued existence, they will surely go the way of the 
lower playing fields and there will come a time when we'll have to go 
to a natural history or photography museum to remind ourselves what 
native trees and plants, orange groves, etc. used to look like in the 
'old days', before their total disappearance (think "Soylent Green").

Thank you for hearing me out and giving serious consideration to my proposals.

Best,
Carole