I finally got a photo with Chancellor Belcher!
There are many questions people who go to WCU who are freshmen or even master students that aren't answered and I'm here to decode the questions (someone who's been to WCU for 4+years).
1. Why is the fountain called the "Catafount"?
Throughout the development of the campus we all know and love today, the fountain is called the Catafount because it's a signature word that no one else has.
Just like our mascot, Paws, Western has its own names for everything: Cat-Tran, Camp building, FPAC (now known as BAC, ugh), CATAMOUNT -- a cat in the mountains, literally. We are a university that prides itself on the mascot because let's be honest... Cats are amazing and have taken over the world by storm.
2. Why is the cat-tran never there when you need it and always there when you don't?
Ahhhh this one brings a story to mind: the first weekend I was here, I went to go explore the area at 1:15 am, came back and had to park in the back BASEBALL LOT. That is a lot known for the dark arts. I called campus police to come escort me to Scott, dorm I lived in, and they said the cat-tran was coming in a few minutes... 15 minutes later it finally showed up after I was already in my "I'm going to kill anyone who is near me" mode. It's simple as this, they get delayed because of things like over-populated busses, evil drivers on campus, timing is off, etc. But the best way to know where one is going to be is getting the Nextbus app for your phone. It actually works! :)
3. The utmost important question: why isn't Moe's Open 24/7?
Aramark is the company that gives us the food (not always good but that's another article) and for Moe's just like every other branded food company that is on our campus is usually powered by student workers. All of the dining places usually are low in staff because the turnover rate for employees is my guess 80% which is similar to the Walmart in Sylva. There isn't enough workers and enough traffic of people for them to give us Moe's for 24/7.
4. Why can't they serve chicken nuggets in the caf every day?
Supply and demand and budget prevents us from having glorious chicken nuggets (but not the greasy pizza).
5. Why are caf veggies never fully cooked?
Typically its because they want us to experience the rawness and the utmost healthiest way to eat veggies: half cooked. But seriously, it's because in the food world there's a standard to how something is cooked (and the whole supply and demand thing is too damn high at WCU).
6. Why can't you use gift cards at any of the food places?
The agreement that the campus has with the companies: we supply the food and the brand, you pay us for the food and in return, you get to make the students pay for ridiculous meal plan prices. I hope that made sense.
7. Why is the ketchup dispenser ALWAYS empty in the caf?
People in the States, especially in the south, LOVE ketchup on anything. So the demand is extremely high.
8. Why do the grilled cheese sandwiches resemble a rock?
Depends on the time you get it, bread naturally dries out pretty fast and with it being under a lamp for 30 minutes, it's going to be a rock because it doesn't have any moisture in the bread.
9. Why does Chic-fil-A only have 1/4 of its actual menu?
My guess, it's a micro version of the fully Chic-fil-A because of the limited space we had for food joints on campus until recently. Imagine going to WCU before 2016, it was very limited.
10. Why does Parking suck?
Excuse me while I go do a rant in my head over this....
Okay, I'm back. Parking on campus has always been a problem, but this past year has been the worst because WCU actually admitted too many students. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but back when I was a freshman it was harder to get in. They're trying to establish themselves as a big university when it cannot become it due to the limited space from the mountains (and the pact they have with the Cherokee of the parking garage situation). The parking services essentially changed up the lots to make it more straightforward this year but fucked everyone over by changing the commuter/upperclassmen parking, creating another metered lot, and changing where freshmen can park.* They fucked us all over in that (but kept the parking passes the same as the 2015/16 year to be passive aggressive).
*The parking issue is going to get worse as the years go on, it's going to be a full-blown parking hunger games styled era.
