My mom says I write too much about alcohol in my weekly musings, so I took a few weeks off. Alas, sorry ma, but here’s another.
I took the job of being an Emerald columnist for one reason: to write an article about putting a bar on campus (“Give me a home where beer drinkers roam,” ODE, Feb. 1, 2007). I poured my heart and soul into that prophetic masterpiece of just fewer than 800 words. The excitement of the idea flooded into my writing; however, and I think too much cheekiness in the article undermined my proposition.
On the Emerald online, a comment by our beloved “dorothy” lambasted the idea on the basis that college students do not have the gusto to run such a business, and suggested the money might as well go into the state lottery. In response, “Josh,” wrote, “THIS WAS SAID TONGUE IN CHEEK!” Au contraire my little online submitter. There was neither tongue nor cheek involved in the creation of that article, only a small boy (with a slight buzz from the night before) and his dream. So let me make it clear for others like Josh: There needs to be a student-run pub on campus. And to the “dorothys” of the community: your pessimism is really harshing my mellow and undermining the potential of University students. Stop it.
I am certainly not a prophet – at least I don’t think so. I am merely one in a long line of college students who recognize the severe lack of social intermingling on campuses. A columnist for the Daily Bruin mentioned in a 1996 column that the real public forums in Washington are not found on congressional floors or in meeting rooms – where positions, not issues, are debated – but rather found in less formal atmospheres like Old Ebbit’s Bar and Grill.
The University’s campus is segregated into factions like the Survival Center, the Asian Pacific American Student Union, the LGBTQA, the Black Student Union and other like-minded groups who gather in various suites in the EMU because they want comfortable environments where they feel most accepted. Good. Great. Grand! It is crucial to the University’s devotion to diversity, however, to provide a place for members of these groups to communicate, interact and find common ground with others. Right now, the only place where this happens is at absurd senate meetings where people come not as individuals debating issues with others, but as members of a group pushing their positions. A central forum that garners comfort and character would do wonders for campus life, and the obvious option for such a place is a mature one where alcohol is served.
Although, strengthening diversity and racial understanding is not why I want an on-campus pub. (I stick by my statement that I don’t see color.) I want one simply because I like beer. I heard some inviting news this week, news that the EMU master plan may include an on-campus bar. If these plans develop, there should be a student coalition to work with the ASUO through this process.
Thus, I announce the formation of the Ducks to Rectify Unreasonable Nuisances for Knowledgeable Students. If you want to make the University campus a better place, join the D.R.U.N.K.S. today!
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