After a renovation in 2005 turned the Spoke from a dingy bar into a spacious lounge, everyone expected the 41-year-old Western hallmark to continue unscathed. It didn’t. Soon profits were down and the Spoke went through a second renovation, returning to a fully licensed bar. With elections underway, presidential candidates are promising to change the Spoke once more while it’s still trying to find its feet.

We can’t pinpoint the Spoke. Is it a bar, pub, lounge space, study space or restaurant? Students are just as miffed, not sure whether they should bring their own food, grab a pint, or study for midterms.

But one thing is for sure — Western needs a popular campus bar with a strong tradition.

Part of the Spoke’s problem is trying to be everything to everyone. The lounge / tavern attempts to appeal to the entire bar crowd and study crowd at the same time — and fails.

One solution to wasted lounge space could come from a University Community Centre renovation. If the proposed referendum passes, the University Students’ Council gets plenty of cash to throw around. Building a bigger lounge in the UCC gym might relieve the Spoke of that responsibility, letting it focus more on food, booze and events.

If this happens, the Spoke needs to solve its promotional issues. Did you know they have weekly events and live music? Neither did we.

They need to step up their advertising, which means Western and the USC need to relax their rules over promoting alcohol-related events on campus. The Spoke also needs a dedicated manager for promotions and bookings to organize live music, promote events through Facebook and around campus. If you only give promotion a little bit of attention, you’ll only get a little bit of attendance.

Unfortunately, on-campus events will always be an uphill battle. Most students flock to Richmond Row on nights and weekends, putting the Spoke out of reach. This is where clubs, services and even USC presidential candidates need to step up. Why host your event on Richmond Row when you have a great, free venue at your disposal on campus?

All of these problems are compounded by fresh-faced University Students’ Councils, who come into power every year and try to tweak the business model. What these usually amount to are tired and terrible ideas without any grounding in the Spoke’s history.

Whatever the next USC chooses to do, it’s time to finally commit to one direction. Students need to take hold of the Spoke and build a tradition again, and that’s impossible if the Spoke is changing every 45 minutes.

In the end, the USC isn’t the best one to decide on the Spoke’s fate. Leave that to the full-time managers who have been at Western for a decade or longer. For the most part, they know more about this than you. Maybe it’s about time for a hands-off approach.