The luxurious espresso machine has been exchanged for an automatic one. And quietly enjoying your coffee or tea at a table? That’s not possible at the moment. Employees of the management faculty are protesting the changes that have been made to ‘their’ Café C. They started a petition.

Good coffee, skilful staff and a cosy place to sit. That is what Café C was in a nutshell, according to political scientist Yaël van Drunen. Especially in the past year full of corona measures, this was the hotspot where colleagues in the Elinor Ostrom met or ran into each other. ‘I came here every day,’ says Van Drunen.

Transformation

To Van Drunen’s dismay, the café has changed this summer. The luxurious espresso machine in C has been exchanged for a fully automatic one. Those who want a sandwich can choose from pre-packaged ‘gas station sandwiches’, where previously an extensive range of fresh sandwiches were offered. The fact that visitors can only pick up does not contribute to the atmosphere, says Van Drunen.

To highlight her concerns, the young political scientist and her colleague Andrej Zaslove started a petition this week to ask the university to restore Café C to its former glory. At the moment, the petition has been signed 128 times.

‘The university is focusing on automation and take-away, but that comes at the expense of quality and cosiness,’ says van Drunen. She fears that as a result fewer employees will meet each other and that the social cohesion will be affected in this way.

Insecure times

Rens Janssen, head of Food & Beverage, is aware of the petition’s existence. ‘It’s good to hear that the coffee in C is so appreciated,’ he responds. ‘But we are living in uncertain times. We want to avoid that many people have to wait for their coffee for a long time and that so many people come close to each other. With this device, we can serve the cups of coffee faster.’

Janssen cannot promise if and when the cafe will return to its old form. ‘We are now only focusing on the opening of the academic year and how we can serve everyone as safely as possible.’

And the furniture, which is not used now? It will be put back in place next week, Janssen assures, so the visitors can also drink their coffee in the cafe. ‘We’re going to make it cosy again.’