Dichotomy Coffee, a student-run coffee shop that operated on the second floor of O’Connor Hall in the Dickinson Community, recently shut down its dorm operations under orders from Residential Life.

The coffee venture was launched in September by Edan Amos, a freshman majoring in business administration, and Milo Raimes, an undeclared freshman. Beginning as an outdoor pop-up shop, Dichotomy Coffee served coffee to students and built its brand through artistic photos and videos on Instagram and ad slips under doors. They said they wanted to establish a community-centered brand while “creating a space that respects the romantic experience of coffee” with every cup brewed.

As the weather turned colder, they stopped running outdoor pop-ups and began operating out of their dorm room. Amos and Raimes said they were soon approached by a person from ResLife about their coffee venture. Following the intervention, they posted an Instagram statement on Feb. 20 announcing that “per regulation, we will no longer be distributing coffee out of a dorm.”

“Dichotomy Coffee is being investigated by Residential Life for breaking a rule that we did indeed break, although we were not aware of it at the time,” it read. “We distributed coffee out of a dorm; usually for free, sometimes paid, which is apparently a blatant violation.”

Before their shop was shut down, Dichotomy Coffee offered a variety of roasts, like a local blend produced by a coffee roaster in Ithaca. Drinks, served hot or cold, were available with add-ons like caramel, mocha and vanilla syrups, whipped cream or a milk substitute. Students could also order small, homemade baked goods like banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and biscuits. Ingredients and tools, like a coffee grinder and milk frother, were set up on a desk near the dorm entrance.

Amos said that they wanted to recreate the atmosphere of vibrant coffee shops typically found on urban campuses.

“You could look at urban campuses and how they have these bustling fourth-wave cafes that are full of college students who are just studying, hanging out,” Amos said. “It’s like a community vibe. And we really have nothing like that. We just have grab-and-go expensive coffee chains, and people even travel miles into town on a bus, wasting their precious time to go to a nice cafe. So it seems rational that you would want to offer that to people on more rural campuses as well, in a convenient place on campus.”

ResLife officials did not return repeated requests for comment.

Raimes and Amos plan to pitch their proposal to the New York Business Plan Competition, a statewide contest open to undergraduate, graduate and community college students that provides a “platform for training New York’s next generation of entrepreneurs.” Their concept involves converting unused common room space in dorm buildings into interactive cafe spaces where students can study, hang out and meet new people.

The competition’s Southern Tier division will be held on March 21. Amos and Raimes said that they spoke with Michael Bronikowski, a first-year master’s student studying computer science who won first place in last year’s Software and Services category for his project, which used algorithms to promote sustainability in beekeeping.

While Dichotomy Coffee is closed, the two co-founders are committed to finding a way forward for their conceptual brand.

“We will attempt to work with BU and other universities on a new project involving Dichotomy Coffee, and ask for your support in the process,” the Instagram statement read. “We hope that we can succeed with the help of our university, not in spite of our university.”