There is comfort in seeing kiosks. Between running with a heavy bag and an arm stacked with books from Lagmay Hall to Benitez until a final stop at my internship office at Palma Hall, kiosks have become a place for rest. Those iconic yellow stalls provide a place to pause, breathe, and enjoy the simple pleasure of a combo of pancit canton and fish balls.

I had the funniest conversations with my friend as we wait in line, a way of coping each day away from our families. In those queues, we find ourselves thinking of what we will do after college and reprieve from the stress of sitting in makeshift chairs. Like many students, I survived hectic days there. But above all, I felt reassured that amid the rising prices of commodities on campus, I still had something to fall back on.

But even that is under threat.

Stall owners along Fernandez Street, between Lagmay Hall and Palma Hall, are at risk of displacement after inspectors from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs (OVCCA) and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development said that they are violating business conduct rules for having kitchen and table setups. The officers said that under the business permit application, vendors should not occupy spaces outside the four corners of their stalls, despite their small space.

This is the same scheme that recently happened in Area 2, where vending materials were confiscated without warning by order of OVCCA and the Quezon City government. These clearing operations come amid the increasing commercialization of the university, notably with the upcoming opening of DiliMall in August.

In the face of these issues, we are forced to squander where we would get affordable food should these “cleaning” programs push through. There is not much place to get lunch, much less to eat on campus. Every free space is usually used as parking lots for cars that ply campus roads.

Some are forced to get food in malls like UP Town Center where food chains are situated but are pricey to dine in regularly. It was during these times that my friend and I got into a conversation about how, for children of low-income working parents, UPD is becoming a place that we forced ourselves into, rather than belong to. It sometimes feels like the campus is becoming more of a place that only the rich and privileged can enjoy.

In a place where we are supposed to build our dreams, we become strangers from the university. But it is not just us. Vendors, too, are becoming alienated, forced to vacate the places where they have provided services to students like us who are working toward our dreams.

Sometimes, I wonder if I can continue my education if the university keeps disenfranchising students like me more than we already are. Because kiosks are more than just providers of food. In those iconic yellow stalls, students have shared and made their stories. And in those kiosks, we found comfort in food and memories that we long for while we are away from home. ●