“Freudian Sip“ turned “Brahma Café”

SAMANTHA BRAVO News Editor Sambravo.roundupnews@gmail.com

Students will never order an iced coffee in Pierce College’s Freudian Sip again. Instead they will get their drinks from the new Brahma Cafe.

Brahma Cafe is the new name of the coffee shop on campus after the

Pierce College Student Store did not renew its contract with California State University Northridge’s (CSUN) Freudian Sip franchise when it expired in April.

The Student Store took down the old sign on Thursday, May 5, and put up a temporary Brahma Cafe sign. Assistant Bookstore Manager Candy Van said they are waiting for the new logo to be approved by the legal department, and have put up the sign in the meantime.

“We’re planning on changing the whole look,” Van said. “We’re moving forward.”

Shant Varazian, senior cashier at the student store, is excited to be able to make more choices and not be limited to food and drink options.

“It’s nice to have something with the school name and school spirit,” Varazian said. “Hopefully we can get away from the other franchise name and see where it can take us. Now that we are in charge of everything we can be more creative and think of our own drinks.”

According to the Assistant will be held on November 8, 2016, the same day as the presidential election. The winning candidate will succeed Democratic Senator Fran Pavley.

Following the candidate debate for State Senate, Assemblymember Matt Dababneh, who represents the 45th Assembly District, will be hosting a meet-and-greet and a Q&A session from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. A financial education and literacy booth will also be available.

Assistant Director for State Government Relations Chaitanya Komanduri, who has been working with UCLA for the past five years, will be the UCLA representative at the event. Komanduri said that UCLA often co-sponsors forums throughout LA County, but this will be the first time they collaborate with Pierce.

“We heard about [Pierce’s Day of Politics] and they’ve had a lot of notable politicians show up in the past, including the mayor,” Komanduri said. “It’s a very visible event in the San Fernando Valley and it gets a lot of community engagement, so we reached out to participate.”

Robb said that in addition to UCLA’s co-sponsorship, she also received help from ASO and from the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute. All organizations said they’re hoping for a big turnout and Robb said they’re expecting about 200 people to be present at any given time.

Day of Politics is a free event and, while there is no need to register ahead of time, the city of Los Angeles will be registering voters at the event. Robb wanted to send out a general reminder that you won’t be able to vote in the presidential election if you’re not registered to vote by the second week of May so she strongly encourages students to come by and register if they haven’t already.

“Due to social media and technology, our society is becoming singularly issued and people don’t take time to go out of their little circle; if they’re interested in economics or fashion, they’re not going to know about politics,” Gabrielli said. “So the biggest thing that I think can come of this day is for people to just broaden their horizons and know what’s going on in the world next door.”

The campus is going to upgrade the furniture and appliances, as well as new computers, televisions and electronic message boards for menus inside the cafe.

“It would be easy for customers to see [the menu], and would be easy to update and change,” Hogikyan said. “We could put some pictures and partner with different departments to advertise.”

The generated funds that the student store has accumulated will be used to upgrade the cafe, according to Hogikyan.

“It’s not just because we decided to close early, when we review the sales, we find out that after 3:30 p.m. we’re not making profit because of labor,” Hogikyan said.

The Pierce College Student Store paid CSUN $25-36,000 a year for the franchise since 2006, according to assistant bookstore manager, Candy Van. Those fees will stay in the budget and help pay for the new logo, according to Hogikyan.

“We don’t have to pay any fee’s for it, it’s going to be a campus logo,” Hogikyan said. “More profit because we’re not going to pay the franchise.”

“Once the logo is approved and all the furniture arrives, we’ll have a grand opening,” Hogikyan said.”

Mohammad Djauhari Editor in Chief mdjauhari.roundupnews@gmail.com

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