51 Main may be budget casualty

Author: Hilary Hall

The College's Acting Provost Tim Spears' announced Nov. 20 that 51 Main, Middlebury's new Main Street social space, might be closed to aid the College's finances. In his entry on the blog "One Dean's View," Spears asked for student input on the issue of whether or not the College should sustain 51 Main any longer in a time of budget crisis, creating a whirlwind of response. Spears' blog posting elicited 25 responses, all but two begging him to keep 51 Main open.

51 Main, the brainchild of Spears and a generous donor, has for the past six months given students a place to relax, order drinks and light dinners, and enjoy art exhibits and live music. While Spears remarked in his original post that 51 Main does not make a profit, a donor covers its deficit. So though the establishment is not a financial earner, it also does not take away from the College's endowment. If the administration decides to close the doors of 51 Main, they will ask the donor to put his gift towards overall budget relief instead of social life, which was the stipulation under which he originally gave it. The value of the gift would no doubt make a difference to the overextended budget and help the College in coming months.

For some students and staff members, though, like many who responded to the Dean's blog, the social benefits of 51 Main outweigh the fiscal benefits of its closing.

"51 Main has been a way for me and my friends to get off campus in the evening and remove ourselves from the college nightlife every so often to spend a night a different way," remarked a student with the pseudonym "Sophomore Feb." "While I am certainly sensitive to the economic situation and understand that cuts must be made, I ask you to consider giving 51 Main more time to grow."

This sentiment was echoed by "Anonymous #3," a staff member, who said, "I find it a very comfortable way to take greater advantage of social events related to the College without feeling like I am invading the student scene on campus. While large events are always welcoming, as a non-student I would not feel comfortable going to dorm lounge to hear a student band. 51 Main makes for a great way to mix town/gown and young/old in a lovely environment on neutral turf."

Barbara Doyle-Wilch, a faculty advisor to 51 Main, agreed in a recent report that its location, which unites the town with the campus, is a major selling point for the establishment. She also remarked that 51 Main has made consistent sales and has art exhibits booked through the end of the academic year. And it is still in its early days, as both Doyle-Wilch's report and some blog comments pointed out, so as 51 Main becomes more established, interest in the venue is likely to continue to grow.

However, as anyone who has kept up on the College's fiscal situation knows, the economic shortcomings of the current budget must be taken into account. One of the few negative responses on the blog cited the recent hiring freezes as incentive to close the restaurant down and called the social life a "luxury." He or she questioned why a "nightclub" should be a budget priority, when employment at Middlebury, along with almost every other area at the College, is losing significant funding.

Another staff member's posting expressed the same feelings, saying, "It's hard to justify sustaining a nightclub that's only open three days a week and that serves a small portion of the community. It would do staff morale good [to close it] … showing that we all must make sacrifices, and sending a message that academics [are] more important than fancy food."

In this conflict between social life and fiscal sensibility, the administration has no easy decision ahead. In times of economic hardship sacrifices must be made, and at what point does social life become a superfluous expense? Both Spears and President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz urged students to give their input and said that they would not make a decision until they had a clear idea of 51 Main's success.