Ithaca College will close the Tower Club restaurant’s doors May 18 after two decades of service to the campus community. Though it may have been a difficult decision to make — closing down something that highlighted one of the college’s most prized aesthetics: its view— it was the right one for the administration and dining services to make given current economic constraints.

The Tower Club was a drain on the college’s budget for a number of reasons. According to Jeff Scott, director of dining services, the restaurant only serves 10 to 20 people for lunch on most weekdays. This business flow does not warrant using tuition dollars, which could be used for student programming, to subsidize the restaurant. The club also employs only five people who will be absorbed in other areas in dining services, avoiding the difficult aftermath that often comes when these types of decisions are made.

With 4 percent budget cuts taking place campus-wide, the administration is encouraged to look at more programs, like the Tower Club, that are doing little to enhance the college’s overall institutional integrity and cut back. The more programs that can be found now to save on the budget the better.