The ASUO has $800,000 of surplus to spend and I’m damn thirsty. Why not kill two birds with one stone and use the extended fees to establish a student-owned, student-run tavern on campus?
But wait, isn’t serving alcohol on campus against the rules? Not quite. The consumption and/or furnishing of alcohol is “permissible only in such areas as the University may designate,” in accordance to state law, according to the Student Conduct Code. In fact, there was a running pub on campus not long ago.
Clancy Thurber’s Pub opened in the basement of the Collier House (the old building on the hill that is kitty-corner to the EMU amphitheater) in 1996 under the management of the University Club. The pub didn’t last long, however, mostly due to money problems. University Housing took over operations of the pub – and the upstairs restaurant – in 2000, serving as a grab-and-go style café during the day and a pub at night. Once again, Thurber’s Pub failed to succeed and closed in 2001.
Food Services Director for University Housing Tom Driscoll said location was most likely the main downfall of the pub, because campus is generally empty at night and students had fewer reasons to come on campus for a beer rather than go to a more social atmosphere, such as Taylor’s, Rennie’s or Max’s. (Quick note: If a miracle happens and my following proposition becomes a reality, can the tavern be called “Ossie’s”?)
Where Thurber’s failed, however, a student-run tavern could flourish. The first rule of business is “know your target customers.” In a 2000 article about the Collier House, the-University Club President John Schellman admitted “Faculty members are quite poor businessmen.” So I say, let’s see how students could do. After all, who knows University students better than University Students?
The ASUO should nut up and propose the idea of a student-owned, student-run tavern (aka Ossie’s) to President Dave Frohnmayer for two reasons: for what it would serve and for what it would provide.
An on-campus tavern would serve beer and wine (duh!). Furthermore, it would give students over the age of 21 a rallying place. (Not rallying like “Boo Bush” or “Boo Axe body spray,” which is typical for the UO, but rallying as in the Oxford meaning: “the action or process of bringing or coming together”). It would serve as a place with character and acceptance (I believe a couple beers make people more accepting of life) for students to call their own. It would serve a social forum during the two hour break in-between classes for students to discuss diversity, politics and how the Ducks are going to really take it to those Bruins tonight.
The ASUO prefers that the surplus is spent on a self-sustaining project. A successful on-campus pub would provide that. It would also provide student jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities for business students and a stage for student musicians, poets and jokesters. And if a separate building were built specifically for this project (I’ll get to this later), student teams from the School of Architecture and Allied Arts would be provided the chance to design the building, the interior and the surrounding landscape.
But wait, back the 15.5 gallon barrel up – isn’t alcohol bad? And wouldn’t another pub just support binge drinking and drunken barroom fighting? No and no. It has been proven that one to two servings of alcohol a day is beneficial for one’s health (I learned it in diversion class), and Universities across America are backing the idea that on-campus bars and pubs provide an “otherwise-unavailable social space” that promotes responsible drinking, according to Mike Buzalka of Food Management magazine.
About 50 percent of U.S. Universities have a place on campus to purchase a drink. Students at UCLA have been pushing for a campus bar for over 25 years, and there is now an official student group called Bruins for an On-Campus Bar, and the ASUCLA is close to finally voting on the proposal.
Finally, on to the second rule of business, “location, location, location.” After hours of contemplation, I believe that the ideal place to build Ossie’s Tavern (or whatever) is between Villard Hall and Lawrence Hall. The spot is easily accessible but not in a high-traffic area; plus it’s so pretty there.
In an informal poll taken throughout the last week, I found that 100 percent of students support having an on-campus pub. (Other results may vary). So now it is up to you, University students. The ASUO is giving you the power to decide how your $800,000 is spent, so choose wisely. Contact you favorite student-government employee and tell him or her that you, too, support a student-built, student-owned and student-run on-campus tavern.
Cheers!
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