ASWU senate votes to relieve the Bistro’s $20K debt

The Bistro in the Putnam University Center in November of 2023. Photo by Jason Lehman.

On Feb. 26, the Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) senate voted unanimously to clear the Bistro’s debt of $19,604, with the condition that they work to create an accountability agreement for the Bistro going forward. 

The ASWU senate had originally considered the possibility of clearing the Bistro’s current debt on Feb. 19, but after some discussion they motioned to table the vote until the Feb. 26 meeting. 

This is not the first time that ASWU has supported the Bistro financially. In 2024, ASWU cleared the Bistro’s debt of just under $10,000. Since 2020, ASWU has given the Bistro a total of roughly $70,000 in different measures to help relieve its debt. With this latest addition, the relief has been brought up to about $89,000.

When the motion to clear the debt was first brought before the senate on Feb. 19, general manager of the Bistro Emma Stephens (’26) said that the Bistro and its financial consultant, Mike Martinez (MBA ’11) are working to make the coffee shop financially independent. Stephens took over the management of the Bistro in fall of 2025, inheriting the debt from the 2024-25 academic year, she said. She has been making some changes to the shop’s operations. 

Other than raising the price of goods and its catering service, the Bistro has worked to increase its profits through social media campaigns and collaborations that increase foot traffic, Stephens explained. Additionally, she shared that at the beginning of the academic year, the Bistro cut its inventory of syrups but that the Bistro brings them back as specials to make them “more exclusive” and thus encourage further sales.

The Bistro also recently raised the price of its cookies. Stephens said that she wanted the Willamette community to know that the price increases “are so we can remain open as a business” but that the Bistro is “always looking to lower the price of chocolate chip cookies.”

The Bistro’s debt has been brought on by a number of factors. Like many businesses, it is still recovering from the pandemic and is struggling with rising ingredients costs as well as increases to the minimum wage. Additionally, the removal of Compass Cash has negatively impacted the Bistro, as it used to be a major source of income, Stephens said. 

She also shared that the Bistro had been previously advised by Willamette faculty members that there would be a “return to normal” after the pandemic and that the Bistro could eventually continue operating as it had pre-COVID “without having to make any drastic changes.” She said that at the end of the last academic year, it became clear that this would not be the case. 

Some of the pushback against the relief measure from the senators at both the Feb. 19 and Feb. 26 meetings included concerns about transparency of the Bistro finances and the worry that it would continue to rely on ASWU as a source of funding. 

Stephens shared that she is “more than happy to provide [the ASWU senate] with the accountability measures that they’ve asked for.”

Following the vote, ASWU Senator and finance board member Ernest Jones (’28) said that while the Bistro is “an important space on campus … it is not sustainable to continually bail out the Bistro.” Thus, he voted in favor of the motion “under the assumption that an accountability plan would be written up.”The specifics of said plan were not discussed at the meeting.

In ASWU Treasurer Mitch Septoff’s (’26) words at the Feb. 19 meeting, “This money is coming straight out of the ASWU Reserve … but I can’t see a better use than the Bistro.”