Long have Vanderbilt students huddled around their campfires whispering legends of a campus Starbucks. This legend will soon become a reality with a location to open in the Student Life Center on April 30. Vanderbilt Dining has been working on this project for some time, and a campus coffee shop will undoubtedly benefit this campus tremendously.

Starbucks has recommended hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the campus location. Of course these hours are of little help. We have two Starbucks locations with similar hours within a block of campus, both of which are closer to the bulk of student housing than is the Student Life Center. This is in addition to the Mud coffee stand in C.T. West, JJs Market and numerous bagel and sandwich shops. Following the Starbucks-sanctioned hours of operation would add little if anything to this campus, as we would obtain nothing we cannot already obtain easily.

Vanderbilt Dining has been very responsive to student concerns in the past, and Director of Dining Services Lida Horna has commented on Dining's endeavors to extend the hours. This is a commendable effort. Students are traditionally high-strung people with very tight schedules, and all-nighters are a frequent occurrence at Vanderbilt, to say the least. A late-night, on-campus coffee shop with adequate seating for study groups would be extremely popular, not least because it would alleviate the need for students to make the trek to Cafe Coco in the dead of night through a poorly lit neighborhood.

While we do not expect a 24-hour or even an all-night coffee shop on campus, there is a demand for hot stimulants Dining is not currently meeting. The potential for profits here is immense, and in order to take advantage of the future of caffeine delivery, Vanderbilt Dining should negotiate to keep the legendary campus Starbucks open as late as possible.

To read the full story on Starbucks’ anticipated opening, click here.