The idea of the productive, early morning riser is an ideal many of us strive to achieve. We imagine ourselves getting up at the crack of dawn, hopping out of bed with a smile on our face and setting about to tackle the day long before noon rolls around.
Admittedly, for most, it doesn’t actually work like this. However, that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be a possibility or an option for those who want it to be. On the days where students and teachers are not forced to be awake for classes, the early hours of the morning become an option for other types of entertainment, work and productivity. Athletes are up for practice and competitions, club members are out the door for events and activities and the optimistic – or desperate – students are preparing themselves to grind the hours away. Weekend mornings present endless opportunities for a shift in routine from the daily norm of schedules and classes.
As has been drilled into our brains since childhood, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the best way to kick off productivity and the best way to wake up. Apparently, this isn’t the case at Hofstra. On Saturday morning, if you happen to find yourself awake before 9 a.m., you can essentially forget the idea of eating on campus unless you have prepared for such a situation beforehand. Both Starbucks and the Student Center, the hubs of campus eating at Hofstra, don’t open their doors until nine.
For the athletes who have been practicing since six, the hardworking employees whose shifts start at daybreak, the students who aren’t sleeping in or any person with a commitment or plan for the early hours of the day, this is an issue. While Dutch Treats is open, the convenient locations on campus for eating and caffeinating, which feature the widest variety of choices for all diets and preferences, are blockaded.
The situation only gets worse on Sunday, when the Student Center does not open until 10 a.m. Starbucks opens again at 9 a.m. If you wanted a good, hearty meal for breakfast or even just a bowl of cereal, you better have gone to get it the night before. By the time breakfast is available at the Student Center on Sundays, for some it is practically time for lunch. If you don’t have coffee in your dorm or you are not willing to make a hike off campus, be prepared to be hungry, under-caffeinated and in a bad mood until the morning is almost done.
The fact that the Student Center and Starbucks, the most prominent breakfast destinations at Hofstra, do not open until mid-morning on the weekends is absurd. Considering that the Student Center opens even later on Sunday, the situation of a productive morning is laughable.
People are lined up and waiting long before the gates open, so it’s clear there is a demand for this. Maybe people would be more encouraged to get up and pursue their early morning productivity if they knew that breakfast was actually an option.
In short, the Hofstra student body should not be denied their fundamental home kitchen until the morning is half over on the weekends. That is why these dining facilities should be open early on those days as well – so Hofstra students can start their day with hearty, healthy and nutritious foods on any day of the week.
Leah Gath is a freshman bioengineering major, as well as a athlete on the cross country team
