Residential Life (ResLife) has decided to allow WestCo Café to remain open for the remainder of the year despite recent fire safety and alcohol violations. Jonathan Connary, the Area Coordinator for WestCo, and members of Guidance, the WestCo governing body, have begun work on a revision of the Café management system in order to address these policy protocol issues. The decision followed a series of miscommunications that led to the disruption of two theatre productions scheduled to perform in the Café, The Kotov Syndrome and the Songs for a New World.

WestCo Café, which is located in the lower level of the WestCo community living building, is a frequently used venue for student theatre productions and dances. As a private space that serves the public, it became apparent following a series of miscommunications that the current policy concerning the management and use of the venue of the Café was inadequate.

“We are going to try to work on a system and group of policies regarding the operation of WestCo Café,” said Arthen Donovan ’11, one of the five current presidents of WestCo.

Problems initially arose on November 14, when The Kotov Syndrome, a musical sponsored by the student production company, 2nd Stage, was scheduled to perform in the Café. According to Connary, several safety violations were noted following a routine fire safety search of the set, such as blocked exits and damage to fire alarm systems.

Connary contacted his supervisor, Associate Director of ResLife Maureen Isleib, 2nd Stage advisor Ed Chiburis, the Office of Fire Safety, and the facilities manager, to address the issue. After assessing the possibilities, Ed Chiburis decided to cancel the show scheduled for November 14 due to the confusion surrounding the potential fire safety risks in addition to a non-related double booking of the venue.

“It was primarily just miscommunication between the powers that be,” Chiburis said. “The space was double booked… there was also some rock band planned for later in the evening.”

Isaac Lichter-Marck ’11, the WestCo Café manager at the time, has a different perspective on the issue.

“At the beginning of the semester someone broke the fire alarm conduit in the café,” Lichter-Marck said in an email. “A student paid a large fine for the replacement of this conduit. The university claimed to have fixed the conduit although testimonies from people who used the cafe and my own inspections suggest that the conduit remained flimsy after the repairs and could have fallen and been put back up multiple times since then..”

The Kotov Syndrome cast member Elizabeth Simon ’12 was surprised to hear the news of the cancellation.

“I got a call that it was canceled and I was kind of shocked,” Simon ’12 said. “Apparently fire safety came and said that we had been blocking one of the exits, even though that’s what the [set] plan said…”

Yet Connary ultimately did not close the café for the remainder of the weekend.

“We were initially going to close the café for that weekend,” Connary said. “My concern was that the fire safety system was damaged, but the fire safety facilitators told me that it was not damaged to the extent that it would not work.”

After having already held their scheduled performance on November 13 in WestCo Café, the cast of The Kotov Syndrome was able to relocate to the lounge of Butterfield C for the last night of their performance on November 15.

All café issues had yet to be resolved, however.

On Monday 17, following another routine inspection of the venue, alcohol bottles were found in the Café, a violation of ResLife policy.

“The current policy is that if a bottle [of alcohol] or cigarette butts or anything that’s not suppose to be there is found during a sweep through by Reslife then the café is closed for a week,” Arthen ’11 said.

Yet the closing of the Café in accordance with policy would have negatively affected another student theatre production, Songs for a New World, which was scheduled to perform that weekend.

Director and choreographer of Songs for a New World Elizabeth Trammell ’10 was greatly concerned when she heard about the violation. Along with other members of the production, she spoke with Isleib and asked that the Café remain open.

“There was another way to punish those with the alcohol violations, as we were not involved,” Trammell ’10 said.

After a loss of rehearsal time for the theatre group, ResLife decided not to close the café or cancel the performance, despite the violation.

“We decided to keep it open that weekend as we shouldn’t punish the students who weren’t involved,” Connary said. “My goal is to keep it open. It’s a disadvantage to students to have it closed, but students do need to be accountable for their actions in the space.”

Trammell ’10 was thankful for that decision.

“It was miscommunication mostly which could have easily been solved,” said Trammell ’10. “I am very grateful for ResLife to let us use its space even though technically they could have closed the space with the alcohol violation.”

It was this confusion and uncertainty that Connary and the WestCo Guidance facilitators realized that they needed to address. After assessing the issues, they have begun to work on changes to the management structure of WestCo Café.

Arthen ’11 explained that previously the Café Manager was elected by Guidance and worked in conjunction with Connery in booking the Café. Connary and the WestCo members intend to revise the process that goes into the selection of the manager, either by creating a position of a real manager or through selection by committee. They hope that these changes will simplify the system, and prevent a repeat of recent issues, such as the double booking of the venue on November 14. The group will also consider alternative methods in running the Café and perhaps implement fines for the hosts of parties if any violations are found following an event.

Isleib explained in an email that changes to the policy were secondary to maintaining the Café as a safe space.

“We are not changing any policy, we are just trying to ensure that the space is

always in good condition to be used by the next student group,” Isleib said.

While for the most part the Café has been run smoothly, there have been incidents in the past for which long-term sanctions were deemed necessary. Connary noted that two years ago the Café was shut down for a semester after extensive damages were found. No violations were reported the following year.

Second Stage manager Laura Shapiro ’10 intends to continue to hold future productions in the Café.

“The WestCo Café is a great space,” Shapiro ’10 said. “We will definitely continue to have a relationship with them. It was a problem and I think that we worked it out; just a miscommunication issue.”

Simon ’12 agreed with this assessment.

“I wouldn’t say that this is a WestCo café problem,” said Simon ’12. “It was a lot of miscommunication between a lot of parties, not just a location thing… It could have been avoided.”

Both ResLife and the WestCo Guidance facilitators hope that these proposed changes to the management structure will maintain the reputation and intention of WestCo Café as a respectable student-run venue for art and expression.

“In general our goal is to make WestCo café a much more used and publicized venue for a variety of performances,” Arthen said ’11.

Overall, it seems that, yes, the show will go on.