By snoadmin
Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander and ASI President Shefali Mistry cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the new Starbucks on the first floor of the University Library Tuesday. Alexander also shared some of his ideas for the campus.
Alxander talked about his philosophy, which is “to make everything we can more student-friendly, more student-centered and to create places to gather, live, learn and grow together.”
Alexander continued to talk about coffee shops and the opportunities of sharing thoughts and ideas and building friendships. He discussed the desired atmosphere of the campus which is providing different venues for the students to get students to spend more time on campus.
Alexander said, the library is a great resource to the university, because it is one of the few places where students can go to get out of their dorm rooms and classrooms and where faculty can go to leave their departments and classrooms. It is a place that we can all congregate together to share educational opportunities, he adds.
Roman Kochan, dean of Library Services, also spoke at the opening. He discussed more changes being done to help with the new atmosphere, which includes restrooms on the first floor of the library. “Starbucks is the center of the remodel,” Kochan said. Alexander added, “I thought you were going to say Starbucks is the center of the universe.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony began at 1:30 p.m. and small samples of cappuccino were passed out. The long-awaited Starbucks has had a great deal of news coverage, which was displayed around the room. This Starbucks is one of the first to be added to a library. Some of the news coverage had been from the Los Angeles Times, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and a clip shown by news anchor Katie Couric.
“It’s a good way to read… with coffee on the side,”said child development major Erendira Sanchez.
The Starbucks was mentioned as one more step to provide a more student-friendly atmosphere for the campus, while also providing more job opportunities for students.
“Sounds good. There is caffeine when you need to study late,”said senior photography major Michelle Bongirno.
