Friday, November 21, 1997
Arcade keeps its spot on the Hill
DORMS: Officials assure residents that rumors of
looming closure are false
By Carol McKay
Daily Bruin Staff
It’s probably the only place on campus that is as reliable as a
wristwatch on Sunday evenings. Villager Arcade employee Jacob Liao
said he can guess what time it is – or specifically, whether "The
X-Files" is still on – by the number of students at the
establishment near Sunset Village.
"This place is always dead until ‘X-Files’ is over," said the
second-year undeclared student, who has recently begun to fear
losing his job if rumors of the Arcade being torn down are
true.
According to Director of Housing Mike Foraker, however, Liao and
the nine other student employees at the Villager Arcade have
nothing to worry about. Despite murmurings of possible replacements
such as a coffeehouse, office space and a weight room, as for now,
the Arcade is bringing in enough revenue to keep its beloved place
next to Puzzles.
"We have 6,000 students here. Ideas come from a number of
different people," Foraker said, attempting to explain the rumors
of the Arcade’s destruction. "Over the years, we’ve looked at a
number of different uses for the space, but for the immediately
foreseeable future, it will remain an arcade."
In recent months, both employees at the Arcade and student
leaders in residential government, especially representatives from
Sunset Village, have been working to ensure that the Arcade stays
right where it is.
A petition signed by both employees and students who frequent
the Arcade was submitted Nov. 14, and several petitions are
currently being circulated by 24 Sunset Village external vice
presidents to show student support of keeping the Arcade at its
current location, said Sunset Village President Jim Zelenay.
"Oh really?" asked a chuckling Foraker. "That’s a lot of work
for nothing."
But officials explain that there has been discussion over the
Arcade’s future, justifying student concerns. Due to decreasing
revenue in recent years, there was a need to evaluate the Arcade,
said Mary Niven, associate director of dining services.
"There was some concern about financial viability with everybody
having access to computers and video games in their own rooms,"
Niven explained. "But now the Arcade is really doing well. This
year it’s holding its own."
Last year, the Villager Arcade brought in $175,000 in revenue,
according to Bob Kitay, manager of vending services.
Niven explained that talk of taking down the Arcade is nothing
new. "Although there has been some discussion, that stopped two
months ago," she said.
The communication between administrators and students has not
been clear enough to get that message across, however. At the
Arcade early this week, students expressed concern that their
hangout would not be there in the near future.
"This is the only Arcade here," said Jason Chang, a third-year
biology student who was taking a break from his studies at Sunset
Village. "It’s got a pretty good variety of games, and I don’t want
to have to walk all the way to Ackerman."
Others didn’t learn of discussions of the Arcade’s future until
recently. According to Zelenay, a second-year political-science
student, his advisor was not notified until a few weeks ago.
Zelenay was then asked to pass the message on to students that the
Arcade could possibly be replaced and to find out whether students
were interested in keeping it open.
Upon hearing that discussion over replacing the Villager Arcade
has ceased, Zelenay expressed a mixture of relief and caution.
"I knew that they had been talking about it for a long time,"
Zelenay said, remembering rumors during his first year of living on
campus. "Things go back and forth all the time on the Hill."
Zelanay said that he still intends to submit the petitions when
they are gathered to remind officials of student support for the
Arcade. "So if they ever have thoughts about tearing it down again,
the show of student support will annihilate (their plans)."