From the President's Desk

As we start to review the results of the SGA Student Life Survey (Don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to #takethesurvey), a trend is starting to emerge. A number of students are dissatisfied with the Middlebury social scene and are unable to pursue their “preferred weekend lifestyle.”

But a “preferred weekend lifestyle” means different things to different people.

Some people prefer to dance on tables with friends at Tavern and some prefer to drink hot chocolate and watch the Free Friday Film. Some prefer to crowd surf at a fun. concert and some prefer to relax in a bean bag chair and listen to folk music in the Gamut Room. And some — perhaps many — prefer neither.

To provide some weekend diversity, SGA has teamed up with the Grille and the Student Activities Office to announce the return of Pub Night to the Grille. Since the beginning of J-Term, $3 glasses of beer, wine, and Woodchuck have been sold in the Crossroads Café space on Friday and Saturday evenings from 8 p.m. to midnight. In tandem, the Student Activities Office has been working extra hard to bring programming to the space during those times.

Pub Night certainly won’t be everyone’s preferred weekend lifestyle. After all, we are a diverse student body with diverse backgrounds, diverse interests, and diverse conceptions of an amazing Friday night. But it does provide an alternative space, a weekend activity that falls within the grey area between the Bunker and board games. It takes the first steps toward addressing a number of problems associated with Middlebury’s social scene.

First, it creates a space for safe, responsible drinking. Pub Night offers a public space where we can enjoy a fine brew from Otter Creek without the stickiness of an Atwater suite. It’s a place where we can drink without getting smashed and a venue where we can form a realistic, adult relationship with alcohol.

Second, Pub Night can fill the weekend post-dinner void. Many folks don’t want to do schoolwork on an early Friday evening. In the hours between dinner and a best friend’s annual Power Rangers Party, we often turn to surfing the internet or watching a dumb TV show. Instead of trolling cat videos on YouTube, Pub Night offers an opportunity to see a show, grab a beer or meet up with your friend who just got back from Uruguay.

Third, it provides a venue for concerts, student performances and a space for weekend programming by student orgs. Crossroads Café is a beautiful and accessible space. Alcohol service can help draw a crowd to an a cappella performance, an art show or a student org fundraiser.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Pub Night begins to fill in that middle ground in our community. It is an opportunity to rendezvous with your Proctor crush without having to deal with a thumping bass. It’s a space to have a causal evening with friends without having to listen to the ABBA playlist that’s being blasted from the sophomore suite across the hall. Pub Night gives us a space where we can come together and act like adults and enjoy good music, good food, good drink and good company.

Though alcohol service is limited to those over 21 (yes, Vermont State Liquor Laws do still apply), this is an initiative for the whole student body. Pub Night isn’t about more beer or wine on campus. It’s about creating a new community for both upperclassmen and underclassmen. It should be a place where everyone can come together, whether it be drinking good beer or watching the NFL playoffs or singing along with a student band or losing to team Gastro-noenterme-itis at trivia night. This is about taking back our Student Center and making it an attractive place to hang out for everyone.

The Pub Night program, however, can only thrive and be sustained if students attend. So, come on by on Friday or Saturday! If you’re 21+, your SGA President just might buy you a drink or two…