Bye Bye Cactus Cafe

So I was reading a commentary in the Austin American Statesman about how the University of Texas is going to be shutting down a venue known as the Cactus Café located in the Texas Union. The author, John Young, really felt that the reason for the University of Texas closing the venue was, in a sense, selfish. This commentary is directed towards the general public in hopes to save the Cactus Café. Young quotes that the university said that the Cactus Café

"Struggled to maintain profitability" and therefore decided to do away with them. Young says “Yes, you love the word: ‘profitability’ — that criteria around which the world revolves. Well, not all worlds. Some people see value in non-currency, without percentage points attached.”

And to support his argument and try to persuade the general public to see where he is coming from, Young brings up examples such as; would it be okay for The Wall Street Journal to have a swimsuit edition because it would bring in more revenue? Another argument Young had was would it be okay to put the letters E,X,X,O and N on the side if the UT Tower because most companies would pay nicely for that kind of opportunity. He also argues that it costs money to run the café, money that Texas apparently does not have and if that is so, does it not cost money to make the UT Tower glow orange on special occasions.

I feel that Young has great points and that his arguments were defiantly worth considering. The Cactus Café has been around for a very long time and there is much personality and intangible value to it but, in all honestly I feel that it should go. If the café is located on school grounds and the place is attracting more alumni and non-students than students, well then by all means I find nothing wrong with trying to make it suit the needs of its students. Young has pretty good evidences and his logic is quite well, but it is not enough for me to agree with him. I think that Austin is an amazing place but when it comes to letting things go, especially something that has been around for a long time, we simply do not want the change. I say just go with the flow and see what happens because hundreds of places close down and better places pop up.