Everybody loves The Feve. It represents a safe haven for students inundated with essays, problem sets, and a seemingly endless list of classwork and other chores. Two Dollar Tuesdays and Long Island Nights on Wednesdays give us a shred of the weekend during the week. I love The Feve, but there is one irony about the place that I haven’t been able to get over since the first time I went to Two Dollar Tuesday. When you go to The Feve during the actual weekend, it usually feels like a weekday. I am sure that many people may enjoy the lack of an undifferentiated mass of students invading the space during the weekend. One might enjoy a quiet dinner with a friend, or, if you are from the town, a calm night off from work at the bar. Still, it seems a bit counterintuitive that the nights when students would be most available turn out to be the quietest. I think a lot of people would stand to gain from The Feve offering a theme similar to Tuesdays or Wednesdays on even just one night of the weekend.

From a purely pragmatic and economic standpoint, the weekends are when The Feve stands to make the most profit. How much money goes awash because the Feve isn’t drawing students in to spend their night at their establishment? If The Feve can consistently draw hundreds into their establishment every night on Tuesday and Wednesday, imagine the profit The Feve would be making if they capitalized on the time when students are most free to patronize their establishment.

This is hardly all about money. On more occasions than I can count, I’ve regretfully passed up opportunities to go to The Feve with my friends during the week because I was too bogged down with work. The worst part is that I know there won’t be a rain check because nights at The Feve during the weekend simply aren’t the same. I know that I can still technically be at The Feve with friends during the weekend, but I think everyone can agree that Tuesdays and Wednesdays serve a very unique social function on campus. Where else can someone go to float around and catch up with acquaintances and friends in such an open forum? More so this semester than ever before during my time at Oberlin, functions hosted by students seem less like parties and more a race against the clock until Campus Safety or the police shut it down. The ’Sco is wonderful, but you usually go to watch a performance rather than mix with others around you. Thinking about it this way, The Feve is perhaps the one consistent place to simply talk with others in an open environment. It then seems all the more confusing that The Feve doesn’t try to provide this space during the weekend — when most students are actively seeking out a space like this. 

I acknowledge that this isn’t a high-stakes problem that I am raising. Things are fine the way they are right now. If I really do want to enjoy a night out at The Feve with other students, I can simply go on Tuesday or Wednesday the same way that everyone else does. But I don’t think I’m alone in thinking our current paradigm is a bit backward right now. If I’m wrong, let me know and I’ll shut up, but as a small campus, we do have a relatively lacking nightlife scene. The reason why so many students are willing to come to The Feve in literal droves on a random Tuesday or Wednesday night demonstrates how treasured of a space it is for the unique social function that it offers to students. I think those of us who would prefer to stay in on the week for the sake of enjoying a night out on the weekend would be extremely grateful to see The Feve extending that function into the weekend, even if it is just for one night.