An on-campus bar may return to the Hilltop if a recent proposal made by student leaders is approved.
This attempt to bring students back on campus and promote a campus community is the focus of a working paper written by senior GUSA representative Jeff Burns (COL ’01) and junior representative Brian Walsh (COL ’02).
Noisy groups of students traveling through the Georgetown and Burleith neighborhoods have become a point of discord recently between community members and the university. According to the paper, this could be reduced by creating an on-campus student pub or by providing a short term solution such as modifications to Hoya’s or Bulldog Alley.
Former Dean of Students James A. Donahue closed The Basement, a student-run pub located in the Leavey Center, during the 1994-1995 school year.
“When it closed, 400 students protested,” Walsh said. “Now, students go off-campus to Champions, Rhino’s Bar and Pumphouse, places like that. If we can create an on-campus place where students can drink if they are over 21, and socialize if they are under 21, it would be a huge community center.”
The proposal calls for the reinstatement of a student pub that would be open to all students for socialization and that would serve alcohol to students over 21.It would be run by an outside vendor, such as Marriott or Clyde’s, and it would not be staffed by student bartenders. According to its organizers, the focus of the pub would not be drinking, but rather establishing a setting for community interaction.
“There’s already a senior bar – The Tombs,” Walsh said. “This bar would not encourage underage drinking.”
In addition, the paper calls for “cheap, non-alcoholic drinks, food, music (with the opportunity of student musicians and DJs), a dance floor and possibly recreational items such as pool tables, pinball machines or large screen televisions.” These changes were designed in keeping with the 14-point plan Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez outlined as necessary for moving the Block Party on campus this semester.
“We tried to create an atmosphere that would be attractive to students and make it fun to drink,” Walsh said. “We tried to include recreation, a place to hang out, food and music.”
Walsh and Burns will meet with Director of Food and Beverage Jeanne Quirk and Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services argie Bryant this week to discuss Marriott’s involvement with the project, possibly including changing the atmosphere of the existing Hoya’s pub to appeal to students. The proposed location of the pub is in Bulldog Alley and it would be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. A possible long-term location may be in facilities vacated once the Southwest Quadrangle project is completed in 2003, such as the Jesuit Residence.
Walsh categorized the administration’s reaction so far as “supportive.” According to Walsh, Gonzalez was instrumental in opening a student pub during his stay at UC-San Bernadino. However, to reinstate a pub in a Marriott-controlled facility, students would theoretically not have to go through the Office of Student Affairs.
“I think Marriott would be enthusiastic about the idea,” Walsh said. “I assume they would want the business.” Describing the current Hoya’s as “corporate and sterile,” Walsh said that a revised pub version would “draw tons of people. Georgetown Program Board could work to co-sponsor events there, we could make Hoya Court into a ping-pong area and be able to have activities there.”
Walsh said that creating the pub might improve the chances of Georgetown’s 10-year plan being approved on Nov. 8 by the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment. “I think the neighbors would be supportive of any measure to get students on campus and off the streets,” he said.
