Vice President of Student Life, Dr. John King, updated Roger Williams University’s Student Senate on many key issues students have been noticing at RWU in the first weeks of classes, including the closing of the Hawk’s Nest, Cafe Express, Upper Commons Renovations, the new mobile ID system, and other updates.
King said he and the dining staff are pleased with how the Upper Commons renovations turned out. King acknowledged Upper Commons is still missing fresh fruit juice in the mornings, but assured Student Senate they will be back.
The Create Your Own station, according to King, has seen great success, especially during breakfast and dinner hours. King hopes that the Create Your Own station can double as a demo kitchen for life skills classes and food courses in the future. The Create Your Own station has also increased staffing in Upper Commons because there is always someone monitoring the station, said King. Also, coming to the Create Your Own station are identifiable pans to ensure no cross-contamination, including halal-designated pans and vegan-designated pans, said King.
Oasis, the allergy-friendly station, has also seen success in Upper Commons, according to King. However, Student Senate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Chair Ryan Lukowicz asked Dr. King why Oasis is not always open on the weekends. King said Oasis is often dependent on staffing and said he would work with Dining to ensure Oasis is open on weekends for those who have food allergies.
As many students have noticed, the Hawks’ Nest in the Rec Center and Cafe Express in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) have been closed.
Dr. King attributed these closings to budgetary constraints. King said in order to offset the budget, he and his team decided to eliminate the two weakest performing retail sections and used the standard of barely or not breaking even as the deciding factor for these closings.
“We [faculty and staff] miss it as well…the sales were not there to justify it,” said King.
King said the Hawk’s Nest may be open for Open Houses and large athletic events. This was met with disagreement from Student Senators and Organization Leaders who believed it would be a false advertisement as to the university’s amenities and suggested that the Hawk’s Nest be either open or closed – nothing in the middle.
In response to the loss of Cafe Express, King said he was considering adding vending machines to that area including moving the Just Baked machine in the library to CAS depending on the success levels of the library location this semester.
Many Student Senators asked King why students were not communicated with about these closings, to which King acknowledged there should have been a communication to the students. King said there is a possibility the Hawk’s Nest smoothies may make an appearance at one of the other dining spots around campus.
King also discussed the new ID systems in place around campus to access dorms and buildings. King said one of the primary motivators to switch to a mobile credential system was because the previous system RWU used was getting too old to continue its use. Additionally, King said mobile credentials are one of the current ways other universities are handling building access.
Dr. King said that he and the administration decided they needed to go, “all in” on the switch from physical credentials to mobile credentials and acknowledged that the first semester would be a bumpy transition and hopes for a smoother spring semester.
Also, King announced the public chargers available for students to use if their phone is dead and they cannot get into their dorms. There is one located in the Center for Student Development on South Campus and one in North Campus Residence Hall for North Campus.
Associate Dean of Students, Carol Sachetti said many of the app issues students were facing were from students not using their own phone numbers. Sachetti also said that the mobile credentials are safer than the physical ID card because the mobile credentials can be deactivated and reactivated according to phone numbers, ensuring that if a phone is lost, an intruder cannot get into a dorm or building.
Student Leaders and Senators asked what the point of a physical ID card is. King said the ID card does not have plans to go away, that the physical ID card is a backup to access the dining hall, to check out books from the library, and a form of university identification for public safety and resident assistants who need to respond to issues. Physical student IDs can also be used for student discounts at different businesses.
King also announced new club sports coming to RWU. According to King, the club sports are not Student Senate funded and will therefore not receive funding through Student Senate. These club sports have a varsity counterpart. The new club sports include men’s and women’s club soccer, men’s golf, women’s wrestling, and ice skating, said King.
Other announcements King made included RWU being a community sponsor for Bristol Porchfest on Sept. 14, a centralized check in system for the Counseling Center and Health Services, and the possibility of RWU having a float in the 2026 Bristol 4th of July Parade because of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
