Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 7, 2015 Page: 3 of 16
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015 | HILLTOPVIEWSONLINE.COM
NEWS 13
South Congress businesses affected by steadily increasing property values
MICHAEL MORSE/HILLTOP VIEWS
Amy’s Ice Cream is scheduled to close at the end of October to the dismay of students.
-FROM PAGE 1 -
three years, said adapting to
the changes means incorpo-
rating the Internet for deliv-
eries and pickups, which has
changed the style and ulti-
mately, proved to be profit-
able.
“There’s not as much foot
traffic, but it’s gotten busier
due to online orders, which
brings more attention to the
products we offer,” Szwaya
said.
Because of the online fea-
ture, Szwaya also mentions
the customer base is “all over
the place.”
Sage Cafe shares property
with The Great Outdoors, a
nursery, and has been around
for about 10 years.
Dillon Pontbriand, a baris-
ta at Sage Cafe, has lived in
South Austin for 20 years,
and sees the change in scen-
ery as both positive and nega-
tive.
“Any diversity is positive for
new ideas and new business-
es, but people keep getting
priced out,” Pontbriand says.
With Jo’s Coffee on campus,
Pontbriand notes that stu-
dent traffic fluctuates.
“The market has changed,
so we have to adapt. People
don’t just want regular cof-
fee anymore, now they look
for kombucha or frappes,” he
says.
Noting the change in cul-
ture that comes with so many
new incoming residents,
Pontbriand com-
ments that the new
diversity makes it
important to stay
balanced between
what people want
and what’s best for
the integrity of the
business.
Further down
the street is South
Congress Bever-
age Barn, which
has been on South
Congress for over
forty years, argu-
ably one of the old-
est businesses on the street.
Shan Malik, a long time
friend of the owner, doesn’t
necessarily enjoy all the
change.
“This is our last day here,”
Malik said pointing to a row
of empty coolers. “This place
was an icon for all the lazy
people that didn’t want to get
out of their cars to buy beer.”
The growth in rent prices
is the reason for many clo-
sures around town, includ-
ing South Congress Beverage
Barn and the Super South
Amy’s Ice Creams location.
"THIS PLACE WAS AN
ICON FOR ALL THE LAZY
PEOPLE THAT DIDN'T
WANT TO GET OUT OF
THEIR CARS TO BUY
BEER.
SHAN MALIK,
FRIEND OF THE OWNER OF SOUTH
CONGRESS BEVERAGE BARN
Religious diversity on campus prompts discussion about Islamic holiday
By ROSEMOND CROWN
@rosemondcrown
A St. Edward’s University
student, who requested to
stay anonymous, voiced her
frustrations about having
multiple exams on the day
of Eid-Ul-Adha, an Islamic
holiday, on Facebook.
In the post, which has since
been taken down, the student
said that she would “rather
spend my Eid going to prayer
and enjoying it with my com-
munity rather than studying
for a math, computer science
and American history exam
on the same day.” She also
requested that the university
put measures in place to al-
low her and other Muslims
to “either do our exams before
or after Eid — not on the
same day.”
The university is getting
more religiously diverse as
the years pass, said James
Puglisi, associate director of
Campus Ministry.
Campus Ministry has sev-
eral programs in place to
promote religious diversity.
The university is even one of
only 250 academic institu-
tions chosen to participate
in President Barack Obama’s
Interfaith Challenge to en-
courage a focus on interfaith
programming at these insti-
tutions.
Puglisi defended the uni-
versity’s dedication to reli-
gious diversity.
“We don’t get every Cath-
olic holiday off” he said.
“Christmas falls outside of
the academic calendar so
Easter is the only Christian
holiday where classes are can-
celled. That’s historical from
a time when the university
was predominantly Catholic
students going to school here.
Campus Ministry’s mission
to promote religious diversi-
ty, however, does not include
instituting religious holidays
into the academic calendar.
That aspect of religious di-
versity is under the jurisdic-
tion of Academic Affairs.
The issue of implement-
ing holidays, religious or not,
into the academic calendar
is a process that can take
many years to finalize. Asso-
ciate Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs Molly Minus
explained that the process
starts with a written proposal
to the Academic Council for
undergraduates and Gradu-
ate Council for graduates
since it is an attendance pol-
icy that could potentially af-
fect all students.
Students who wish to create
a proposal must work with
the Student Government
Association. The formal pro-
posal then goes to the Board
of Directors who meets only
three times a year.
As of now, no proposals
have been submitted regard-
ing adding any Muslim holi-
days to the academic calen-
dar.
Attendance policies are
typically left for professors to
determine on the first day of
class. Students are expected
to communicate
their request for
an absence to their
professors as early
as possible in order
for the professor to
honor the request.
But professors are
not obligated by
any policy to honor
these religious holi-
day requests.
Muslim students
account for only
2.3 percent of St. Edward’s
undergraduate student popu-
lation, according to prelimi-
nary data from Institutional
Research.
Some students believe that
the small Muslim population
justifies not having the holi-
day.
“If Muslim students in the
school are a majority then
they should give us excuse,”
said sophomore Muteb Ju-
maiah, who is a Muslim. “We
are not a majority of students,
so I don’t think is an issue.”
Allowing a day off from
school seems like a stretch to
some students.
“I would love to have Eid
off from school, but I under-
stand that it is not a practical
option,” said Mahnoor Nad-
im, Muslim Students Asso-
ciation president. “It doesn’t
make sense to give everybody
a day off for an event only a
hundred people are celebrat-
ing on a campus of thousands.”
"I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE
EID OFF FROM SCHOOL,
BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT
IT IS NOT A PRACTICAL
OPTION."
MAHNOOR NADIM,
MUSLIM ASSOCIATION PRPRESIDENT
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Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 7, 2015, newspaper, October 7, 2015; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1007040/m1/3/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.