Students’ Association opens the Observatory for students to ‘focus’

The Students’ Association has reopened the Observatory for everyday use for the rest of the term, but the association does not plan to keep it that way going forward.

“The Observatory remains an event and rental space and is available when it’s booked,” said Bill Kitchen, the SA’s senior manager of hospitality.

“In this case, the ‘Focus at the Observatory’ events reflect that practice.”

The Observatory is open as a study space for students to prepare for exam season.

Before its closure to public use in 2025, the Observatory was the main area for students to socialize and to buy food and drinks.

Kitchen said there are no current plans to reopen the Observatory for regular use after this term.

Matteo Mongroo, an SA events associate, said the association closed the Observatory in 2025 in hopes to bring more attention to other SA-run spaces.

“One of the ways we found to do this was to close this venue because it wasn’t getting the traffic we originally thought it would,” Mongroo said.

“Then, we said, ‘Maybe if we open the Wolves Den and have that as the main campus restaurant, we could see how that does.’

“The response has been great, so we’ve stuck with that,” he added.

The Wolves Den quickly became the No. 1 place on campus for students to socialize following the closure of the Observatory.

Cheyane Lamothe, a second-year student in the business administration-accounting program, said she felt annoyed when the SA announced the closure of the Observatory.

“Honestly, I prefer the food here,” Lamothe said. “It was a little more expensive than the cafeteria, but the food was better.”

Lamothe said she liked the way the Observatory was prior to its closure and hopes to see it make a return, but doubts her wish will come true.

Lamothe laments the way the Observatory has been treated since it closed.

“I think if they’re going to use the place just for events, there should be way more of them,” she said. “With the amount they use it now, it just feels like they killed the old Observatory for no reason.”

Mongroo said the SA doesn’t want students to feel like the Observatory has been forgotten.

“In terms of opening back up completely, I can’t give a 100 per cent answer,” Mongroo said. “But we’re always looking for ways to either have more events or have the space open for, say, the month of April.”

For some students, their grief isn’t for what the college lost due to the closure of the Observatory, but rather the loss of what the Observatory gave them access to.

“The best part of the Observatory was the bar,” Lamothe said. “You could buy alcohol here.”

Customers such as Cara Heathrow, a first-year practical nursing student, can’t help but compare the Observatory to the Wolves Den.

“Not to say that the Wolves Den isn’t a bar, but it’s across campus. It would be nice to have something a bit more central back,” Heathrow said.

“I miss my between-class beer.”