Calif. students revolt over failing Che Guevara cafe- Fla. Democratic congressman under fire for saying 'Communism …
The all-ages caf, which has been a campus fixture for more than three decades, has hosted mega-acts like Nirvana and Green Day prior to their big breaks, but now the nonprofit collective is potentially facing a final curtain call of its own after extensive repairs were ordered by campus fire marshals in the wake of an independent assessment. (checafe.ucsd.edu)
Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, seen here in an Associated Press file photo, is the namesake of a nonprofit collective cafe that's brewing controversy on the campus of the University of California-San Diego.
Long after his death, Che Guevara, who some regard as a ruthless killer and others adore as an icon of revolution, is teaching a new generation of students about the failure of communism.
University of California-San Diego students have run the Che Caf Collective for 34 years, a vegan co-op and concert venue boasting exorbitantly low prices and volunteer staffing. But its consistently in the red, costing the student body nearly $1 million over the years, and isnt kept up to fire or safety codes. School officials are threatening to cut off funding, which would shut down the campus fixture, but a band of students is fighting back.
The venue has been operating for 34 years and its the longest-running volunteer space in Southern California, if not in all of California, caf volunteer Rene Vera told FoxNews.com. And our building is covered in murals that document a lot of that history.
- Rene Vera, Che Cafe Collective volunteer
In its heyday, the caf reportedly hosted up-and-coming acts like Nirvana and Green Day. Staffers would feed the band, often with donated food, and the audience got the leftovers. The decidedly un-capitalist business model worked until crowds began to dwindle, extensive repairs were ordered by campus fire marshals and student groups got sick of subsidizing it.
The universitys student-run newspaper, The Guardian, characterized the venue as a money pit consistently plagued with safety issues in a recent editorial, urging its principals to start utilizing better fiscal management of nearly $1 million in student fees.
Many students also dont realize that the money being spent on the cafs renovation comes directly from student fees; in other words, we are collectively pouring almost one million dollars of our money into repairing a cooperative that the vast majority of us dont even use.
The venues fate was tabled late Tuesday, the third time the school's student-led advisory board has met on whether to cut its funding.
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Calif. students revolt over failing Che Guevara cafe- Fla. Democratic congressman under fire for saying 'Communism ...