Odds are you’ve heard the rumors. The air is buzzing with them, as it has been for … over two years, now? Well in case you haven’t heard, or read last week’s headlines, allow me the honor of delivering the low-down: talks between Student Senate and the Dean’s office about renovating the Dive have started once again.
Talks of renovations, include the possibility of installing a fully stocked, fully armed pub. That’s right, let your imagination freely glide you through the laser lit club scenes of your greatest, slowest motion music videos. Watch that fog ooze. Marvel at the winking blue and green mood lights dancing and glittering through elegant mixers on the rocks.
Does the prospect of a wild and glamorous* party right underneath the Campus Center excite you? Does it excite you more than a new, thirty-million dollar academic building? Then shame on you, you’re a poor student. But if you are excited here’s the deal: you’re going to have to make it happen.
Let’s not kid ourselves, installing a bar in the middle of campus, no matter how wet it is, is a controversial and difficult move to pull off. I recently met with Student Senate Co-Presidents Jen Fox and Nick Prince, who gave me an insider’s perspective and a little history on the subject.
Two sets of Student Senate presidents ago, some brave young party entrepreneurs wanted to make this dream a reality. It was quashed after preliminary talks failed.
The goal was, and still is, to maximize the efficiency of our student space. In other words, there’s a lot of space in the Dive for a very little dance floor. And what better time to re-evaluate the use of space than now, with the largest first-year class in history threatening to exponentially increase the stink of sweaty, questionable judgement that hangs in the air over the packed Friday night crowds?
This is a pretty broad goal to set out and achieve, and installing a pub is just one of many ways to do it. This is where you, the students, come in. If you have a vision, speak up and share it. Aside from assuring me that Friday night Dive wasn’t going anywhere, Fox and Prince had no specifics to share, because this plan hasn’t really taken shape yet. It needs your enthusiasm and input to become something specific and real. Momentum is building once again, but if it’s not acted upon it’ll die out again. Now is the time to redefine how students on this campus socialize, and become a part of Gustavus history.
How is this done? Well, a list of freshly elected student senators was just sent to your e-mails. That’s an easy place to start. Or contact your presidents directly—they’ve got an e-mail address just to hear your opinions on this kind of thing: foxprince@gustavus.edu.
Student Senate wants a two way street of communication on this topic, so get on that street and make yourselves heard. I don’t know about the rest of you, but before I leave this campus I wouldn’t mind being able to sit in the Dive and offer a toast.
With a glass full of social nectar older than history, I want to toast our victory. A victory that we share with the many little Gusties yet to come. I want to toast to perseverance, to making history, and to turning pub rumor into…pub legend.
* Glamour not guaranteed.