Photo Courtesy of Jawad Hosseini

BY JAWAD HOSSEINI, OPINION SUBMISSION

In his 1942 masterpiece, “Nighthawks,” Edward Hopper paints a New York diner open late at night where a lonely man is sitting by himself, a couple is silently contemplating in the corner and a busy waiter is looking lost. If you visit Mason’s only 24/7 dining hall after midnight, you might run into similar characters.

Like Hopper’s painting, the multipurpose room at Ike’s is often a refuge to find much-needed solitude when students feel overwhelmed and crave comfort food. Yet unlike “Nighthawks,” Ike’s also has a larger communal space that serves as a hub for the Mason community to come together and enjoy each other’s company.

Mason’s late-night customs at Ike’s include running into friends while waiting in line for the famed cheeseburger, nodding to acknowledge those sitting around you whom you do not know by name but recognize as the usual late-night suspects and seeing the early morning risers – often athletes or D.C. interns – grabbing a bite before heading to their destinations.

But despite Ike’s major contributions to fostering a vibrant community at Mason, some efficiency concerns emerged last semester that threatened its 24/7 status. In response, the Student Government passed a resolution to express its support for preserving Ike’s 24/7 status.

Through constructive engagements with all stakeholders, Student Government members ultimately convinced administrators to continue keeping Ike’s open 24/7 this academic year. 

In Culinary Council meetings, the company that runs the dining halls raised concerns about not seeing enough people swiping into Ike’s in the later hours. The dining team worried about the operational costs of keeping open a dining hall that gets used below its capacity. While there are legitimate worries about cost-effectiveness, swipe numbers fail to reflect that students often stay at Ike’s for long hours when they visit after midnight.

In recent months, new vending machines have coincidentally popped up around campus offering small “hot meals” at high prices. Some fear that these machines are seen as a potential cost-effective alternative to a 24/7 Ike’s; however, vending machines should neither replace the welcoming atmosphere that Ike’s offers nor can they match the freedom that comes with “all you care to eat” options.

Residential students who rely on meal plans often complain about the quality of food at the dining halls, the lack of enough variety and the occasional inaccurate nutritional information. Nevertheless, a 24/7 dining hall is one of the main reasons that convinced students like me to keep our meal plan despite the dining halls’ shortcomings.

As Mason attempts to transform its reputation as a “commuter school” into a campus known for its vibrant residential life, strengthening community spaces like Ike’s should be central to that strategy. But vending machines replacing human interactions at Ike’s would contradict those goals by encouraging isolation, making living on campus less attractive.

Ultimately, a 24/7 Ike’s has become a Mason institution that is worth keeping alive as a part of our living traditions rather than just another period in our history. While it has been decades since Hopper painted “Nighthawks,” his fans are still searching for the mysterious New York diner depicted in the painting, developing various theories about its location. Future freshman classes at Mason should not be condemned to the same historical ambiguity, left wondering what it would be like to have a 24/7 dining hall.

Future Mason students deserve to experience what I, along with many of my friends, were privileged enough to experience: the opportunity to create endless memories over late-night dinners as we navigated our early days of adulthood.