Students are now one step closer to smelling the coffee and pushing more late-night caffeine into their system.

A town hall meeting sponsored by the Division of Student Life and Student Government and moderated by Alan Cox, a consultant to the university from the Planning Edge, which sought student opinion on the new coffeehouse slated to open this spring, was held Oct. 23 in Carswell Hall.

The coffeehouse will fill the vacant Taylor House lounge and is slated to occupy about 1,400 sq. ft. plus space outside, according to SG president senior Ryan Ramsey.

Ramsey said the main focus of the meeting was to get students' general opinions on everything from décor to games to furniture. He said much of the meeting contrasted whether the coffeehouse would be more of a recreational space with pool, darts and pinball or a traditional-style coffee house.

"People seemed to prefer a Borders or Starbucks type place rather than a game room," Ramsey said. "(People were interested) in a late-night coffee shop run by students with high quality coffee and snacks like muffins and bagels. People preferred a place that wasn't really rambunctious but not like a monastery, like a Starbucks where we can kind of study and hang out."

Freshman Danielle Pavela said she attended the meeting after seeing a flier for it and was interested in seeing the student coffeehouse come to life.

"The student body is ready for something like this," Pavela said. "It's the one thing Wake lacks."

Pavela agreed with Ramsey in that a more traditional coffeehouse was the consensus of the meeting.

"I think the only way it will work is if it's more like a real coffee shop," Pavela said.

Ramsey said he thought the central location of the coffeehouse was a bonus to the project.

"I think it's pretty conducive to student traffic," Ramsey said. "It's right in the corner of the Quad. People coming back from the library or Shorty's will stop by there."

Ramsey also said it was important that students and student opinion occupy the driver's seat for the rest of the project.

"We've had lots of ideas in Student Government, but we want this to be a student project, not a Student Government project," Ramsey said.

Pavela said, from the looks of the first meeting, SG succeeded in passing the reigns to students, but still felt there should be more of a cross-section of input.

"I didn't even know it was run by Student Government," said Pavela.

"I think (the meetings) would be better with more involvement and if more people showed up."

According to Ramsey, coffee would be served by students in the work-study program and could be paid for by Deacon Dollars.

The coffeehouse would likely be open in the evenings from 6 p.m. ¯ 2 a.m. on weekdays and 8 p.m. ¯ 4 a.m. on weekends.