ABCAS cafeteria to reopen on Monday after temporary closure

By Kisean Joseph
kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com
The cafeteria at the Harrison Centre campus of the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies (ABCAS) is expected to resume normal operations on Monday, following a temporary suspension of food preparation prompted by operational changes, the college’s president has said.
Dr Ezra Jonah Greene told Observer Media on Thursday that the closure was a short-term measure and that students could continue to purchase water and other drinks on the compound.
“Due to some operational changes, we had to pause food preparation temporarily within our cafeteria,” Dr Greene said.
She said the campus principal had informed students that the arrangement would last only for the week. The cafeteria continued to sell water and drinks during the temporary suspension.
“It’s very temporary,” she said.
Dr Greene said the college had expected students to bring food from home once they were informed that meals would not be prepared on campus. She noted that the school day at the Harrison Centre runs from 8 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.
“A small snack would have been able to subsidise and to help them out throughout the course of the day,” she said.
She encouraged students to bring a sandwich or light meal for the remainder of the week, and assured them that normal cafeteria service would resume on Monday.
Dr Greene also criticised the way the matter had been portrayed publicly, saying temporary interruptions of this kind were part of the normal operation of any institution.
“In all institutions, there are times when you have to do some operational changes. You have to pause a little operation here or there in order to improve and strengthen what you are doing,” she said.
“Those are not things that need to get into the media and need to create an environment where persons think that something is happening in the negative. There is nothing negative as far as the cafeteria operations are concerned,” Dr Greene added.
She defended the cafeteria’s standards, saying she had purchased meals there herself and considered the food to be of excellent quality. She added that members of the public who regularly bought meals from the cafeteria had also been affected by the temporary closure.
The ABCAS president urged students to focus on what she described as the college’s achievements, noting that the institution was now one year into its amalgamation.
She said ABCAS was expanding its international partnerships and was in discussions with George Brown College, a technical institution, about providing additional support for the Harrison Centre.
According to Dr Greene, a delegation from Monroe University visited ABCAS on Wednesday, and the university’s president congratulated the college on its progress since the amalgamation.
She said Monroe’s assessment of ABCAS’s programmes had resulted in the university granting additional credit to college students who subsequently pursued degrees there.
Dr Greene encouraged students to join clubs, develop their leadership skills and take pride in their institution. She reminded them that they would graduate with a Harrison ABCAS certification.
“They need to build up their institution rather than focus on negative, minuscule things,” she said.