Before spring break, senators unveiled the first piece of legislation that could bring a pub to campus. On Tuesday, senators will vote on whether or not to support the resolution, which needs to gain a majority vote in the senate before being passed on to the administration for consideration.
“I want to stress that the main issue of this piece is not alcohol,” Bethany Peters, student body vice president and co-author of the bill, said. “We need a place to call our own. This would be a place we could get alumni to come back to while not precluding underage students or those who don’t want to drink.”
Other academic institutions, including Vanderbilt, Stanford, Duke and Rice, operate successful, on-campus watering holes that give students a place in which they can build their own memories and bonds.
“The point of this piece of legislation is to let the administration know that student senate is cognizant of [the possibility of a pub on campus] and wants to see it happen,” Jace Hinderland, bill co-author and Finance Chairman, said.
In addition to connecting students to university life and providing a safe alternative to off-campus social activities, the formation of a pub would “break down the division between social and academic life on campus by providing a place where students and faculty could mingle outside the classroom,” according to the resolution.
Senators will begin the process Tuesday of deciding whether SMU students will ever get that chance.
If the resolution is passed Tuesday as expected, according to Peters, it is only the first step in bringing a pub to campus. The resolution would then be submitted to President Turner, who holds final decision-making power in the matter.
The recent report of the President’s Task Force on Substance Abuse Prevention initially recommended the idea of bringing a pub to campus in response to current policies regulating alcohol on campus.
The title of “pub” may mislead some as to the purpose of the establishment.
Sophomore Senator Marc Bullock offered a friendly amendment in the last senate meeting by suggesting the word “pub” be changed to “bar and grill” in the resolution. According to Bullock, this would help to promote the idea of it being less about alcohol and more about providing a safe and regulated environment that would be open to students of all ages.
The resolution also acknowledges that, if approved, the pub would “require students who choose to drink to show an accurate form of identification” and “promote moderation, safety and individual accountability for those who choose to drink.”
Another issue addressed in the resolution is safety.
The proposal suggests that people who choose to consume alcoholic beverages on campus may feel safer and more secure while walking to and from the pub on campus, rather than walking or driving to and from local enterprises off the campus.
While safety is a major concern for everyone involved in the pub’s possible formation, few specifics have been made as far as where on campus it might be located.
Several options stated in the proposal include The Varsity in Hughes-Trigg or the former Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. It also mentions the possibility of using any additional space that the university could provide – currently constructed or not.
Although the idea of an expansive, three-story, state-of-the-art facility is most certainly out of reach, senators welcome all suggestions from students.
