After decades, Chick-fil-A is finally re-opening. Now what else are we still waiting on?
The Chick-fil-A in the Allen Chapman Student Union finally opened after generations of hard work since construction started in the summer of 2007, and Brad Carson gave several opening dates that never came to fruition. All these construction delays make a student question:
If Daddy Braddy knows anything that’s happening at this school or where our money is going to. If he helped the illiterate cows write those “eat mor chikin” signs. If the only thing the construction workers were doing behind that giant screen was posting pictures of that plush cow on the Sodexo account.
Nevertheless, the construction was finally done, and we have to give a HUGE shout-out to Mötley Crüe, for funding every single brick put into the place. Not out of some infamous reminder, but because they finished the task in a diligent and timely manner. Perhaps they can finally give the other restaurants in ACAC a well-deserved break from the mile-long lines during rush hour.
Unlike the old location, the Chick-fil-A is expected to be open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., meaning the students who were forced to go to Subway or Einstein Bros for breakfast can get themselves a breakfast they actually enjoy. After all, it’s impossible for Pat Case to serve breakfast past 9 a.m. when students are actually awake. Heaven forbid Sushi Blu stays open past 2:30 p.m., people can now eat Chick-fil-A for dinner instead of being reduced to choosing between last-minute desperation dinner options like slimy Tex-Mex, greasy burgers or bland ol’ Subway sad-wiches.
But just because the Chick-fil-A is up and running doesn’t mean TU is finished around campus. Take the library for example — from its missing roof tiles to the forsaken bottom level — is still needing a huge makeover. It seems that it will always be halfway through construction since (at this rate) Starbucks is slated to give us our pumpkin spice lattes in the fall of 2028. The Starbucks in the McFarlin Library started construction sometime over the course of this summer. If it ever opens, it will surely put the other hard-to-see library cafe out of business. Not that it was getting much business anyway. We’ve been told that the Starbucks is expected to open in November, but given TU’s track record from Chick-fil-A’s speedy construction progress, I’m willing to bet we’ll see it by the time Gus T.’s look gets updated with a less tight and sheer costume. We love our poop-emoji mascot, but we don’t need to be seeing THAT much of Gus T. Until then, the Sodexo Instagram has already moved on to posting a new stuffed animal at the Starbucks construction site rather than showing any actual work get done (I’m talking about you, Acai).
If the construction around Starbucks didn’t already make the library look dilapidated, the bottom level of the library is still in need of repairs after it was flooded this summer from Tulsa’s hurricane (and I don’t mean Gus T.). As much as TU is trying to erase the fact that it exists, the bottom floor does need to be worked on and fixed, because some of the students would like to study down there again.
Let’s not neglect to mention the problem at the Pat Case Dining Center. I am, of course, referring to the soft-serve machine that has been broken since the current freshman class was in the womb — and it still hasn’t been fixed. While Pat Case employees say they’re “waiting on the parts needed to fix it,” it would help if TU would just order those parts already to speed up the fixing process and bring back the only reason students want to eat at Pat Case. At least Chick-fil-A will give TU a functioning soft-serve machine in the meantime.
Long story short, while we, the student body, are more than elated that Chick-fil-A is finally open, there are still repairs to be made at McFarlin Library, Pat Case and other areas of campus that don’t end up on TU’s Instagram because they aren’t aesthetic enough. If TU can’t spend their money on booking more relevant artists to perform here, they can at least spend money to remove the mold from buildings or pave more parking lots for students to use when Campus Security kicks us out of our lots every week.
