Opinions: The Black Friday debate
Page 7: U.S. Soccer responds to loss.
Sports: Women steamroll past competition
Friday, November 17, 2017 - Vol. 118 Issue 37
By Matthew Armour courier staff
With aspirations to keep communication open amongst faculty, staff and students, Western Illinois University president Jack Thomas hosted his second Brown Bag Lunch Conversation, promoting an open forum and honest communication within the Western community. “Brown Bag conversations provide us with another informal opportunity to communi-
By Tabi Jozwick
courier staff
The Study, a new coffee shop on the square in Macomb, had their grand opening on Nov. 1. According to owner Jim Nguyen, The Study is a unique idea that he felt was a great way for the Macomb residents and Western Illinois University students to unwind.
cate,” Thomas said. “I invited members of our University community, as well as our local community, to bring their lunch to the Brattain Lounge on Nov. 15 and enjoy a casual hour of conversation and fellowship.” The theme for this week’s Brown Bag conversations was communication and a desire to create a partnership between the University union and administration in regards to financial reporting. “I was wondering if it would be possible for representatives from the Union and the
Administration to meet ahead of time to present a set of generally agreed upon figures that would be informative to faculty members,“ said English professor Bill Knox. Thomas responded, agreeing that faculty members play a pivotal role at the university and will be essential during budget negotiations. “I’m sure we can, I don’t see any problem in doing that,” Thomas said. “We had our budget director come to the faculty senate to talk about the budget, who has also come to
those sessions in the Union, which is the faculty union, and the university administration and presented them financial figures before.” Moving forward, another topic of discussion that Thomas spearheaded was the financial reserve and how to properly distribute the money. “There were times when the state did not come through with funding. Every institution, every business should have a reserve,” Thomas said. “We had it in place so we could
float the state. There were times before the budget impasse that the state didn’t come through. We had to use that reserve. According to Thomas, the nature of his Brown Bag dialogues is to inform the general public and concerned members of the community and allow self-expression. Thomas also stressed the importance of payroll and how detrimental it is to the University’s reputation when payroll is not met.
“We do not wish to disrupt any other businesses whether it be food or a local bar,” Ngyuen said. “But we do allow students another place to hang out and work on their assignments or to sit and relax and speak to one another.” Nguyen said that he wanted to keep the atmosphere of The Study cozy and relaxing for the patrons. “We want to keep it that
way, so we are not disruptive,” Nguyen said. “We want to be considerate and accommodate every individual person best we can.” The Study does have the common coffeehouse menu, offering drinks like bubble tea that are unique to the Macomb area. “Our menu is different, we are trying to bring an assorted mixture of taste with our different selections of tea drinks
and high-quality espresso,” Nguyen said. Nguyen believes that The Study will do well in Macomb, especially with its unique menu. “We are hoping that we would never have to convince anyone to come to The Study,” Nguyen said. “We are hoping that the flavoring and quality will spread by itself and when someone is thirsty they would think, ‘hey let’s
go to The Study.’” Patrons have been going to The Study since it opened and gave it rave reviews on its Facebook page. Jonathan Ahl, a broadcasting instructor at Western Illinois University, went to The Study on opening day. According to his review, he was more than satisfied with his experience.
Brown Bag
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Study page 3