Leaders and students hope new coffee shop will make Haskell’s student union more inviting

photo by: Bremen Keasey
Frank Arpan, center, the president of Haskell Indian Nations University, celebrates the opening of new coffee shop Cedar and Sage in the university's Stidham Union Friday afternoon. He hopes it can become another meeting place for students.
Not long ago, Haskell Indian Nations University’s student union hardly ever had students in it at all. It was frequently “closed, and opened, then closed again,” Haskell President Frank Arpan said, and even when students could gather there, there wasn’t much there for them to do.
So, it was quite a difference on Friday when 80 or 90 students, faculty and community leaders came out for the ribbon cutting of Haskell’s new student-run coffee shop in the Stidham Union, the Cedar and Sage Cafe.
The cafe, which had a soft opening earlier in the week, offered free pastries on Friday to celebrate its grand opening. Along with classic coffee and espresso bar drinks, the shop offers some food items and other drinks like blue raspberry lemonade.
But the most important thing the cafe provides isn’t food or drink, but rather a place for people to gather, Haskell leaders said.
Arpan said that before he came to the university, the union was not much of a gathering place for students. It was much more common for students to congregate in the university’s library than in the union. But gradually, the university has been taking steps to move more things into the union, including the campus bookstore and some offices, and to make the space more inviting for the students.
“We wanted to create another space for students and the Haskell community,” Arpan said.
Brittany Hall, the president of the Haskell Board of Regents, said the plan for a coffee shop had been in the works for around one and a half years, and that it was great for the students to have a new meeting place.
Students who spoke with the Journal-World said they were excited about the cafe, too. Haskell’s library had become “overwhelmed” by so many students at times, one student said, and it’s good to have a “good new hang-out spot.”

photo by: Bremen Keasey
Students lining up Friday afternoon to order drinks at the new Cedar and Sage Cafe that opened up at Haskell Indian Nations University’s Stidham Union.