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HEALY PUBA CAMPUS RENAISSANCE


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SUMMARYThe Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) is exploring ideas on

how best to use the $3.4 million endowment built up over the past decade throughthe Student Activities Fee. The goal of GUSA in spending down the money is tofavor projects that affect or are open to the entire student body and have a lastingimpact on campus.

This report lays out such a proposal: bringing back Healy Pub as a dignifiedand student-run gathering place in Healy basement of historical character wherestudents can study and enjoy food, drinks and one another's company.Comparable projects at other universities have cost around $3 million. Studentsoverwhelmingly desire to bring the center of campus life back to Healy. With thecompletion of the Hariri Building and Science Center, large amounts ofadministrative space are being freed up on campus. Never again will students willhave the opportunity to decide how to spend millions of their own dollars. This isan ambitious, once-in-a-generation opportunity to unite students of all ages andrevitalize a campus tradition.

The creation of Healy Pub would serve several important interests:1. A dedicated space on campus for socializing, eating, drinking and studying2. A venue on campus for reasonably priced food and drinks3. Providing leadership and learning experiences in the running of a campus

business4. Incorporating greater student-accessible space in our flagship campus

building5. A means by which to connect undergraduates to Georgetown traditions and

the Hoya spirit

The list of signatories below is comprised of Georgetown students and alumni who

have expressed interest in seeing the idea and spirit of a Healy Pub furtherexplored. While there must be careful consideration of the costs and long-termviability of a revival of the Pub, they all have agreed with the goal and nature ofthis revival. All have served in significant leadership roles in the Georgetowncommunity. All fully support improvement in the availability of historic campusspace dedicated to fostering the Georgetown student community.

Hoya Saxa,Matthew Stoller, C08 Michael Barclay, C12 Chris Pigott, C12GUSA Senator, 2007-08 GUSA Senator, 2010-11;

GUSA Chief of Staff 2011-12Student Representative,Georgetown Board ofDirectors, 2010-11

Twister Murchison, S08 Jake Sticka, C13 Mo Narang, C08GUSA President, 2006-07 Commissioner, ANC 2E, 2011-

13Student Representative,Georgetown Board ofDirectors, 2007-08

Patrick Dowd, S09 Jenna Lowenstein, C08 Mark Corallo, C88GUSA President, 2008-09 Commissioner, ANC 2E, 2006-

08General Manager, UniversityCenter Pub

Jason Kluger, B11 Alex Pons, C12 Larry Everling, B87GUSA Vice-President, President & CEO, Students of Senior Management,


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2009-11; Co-Author,Report on Student Space

Georgetown, Inc. (TheCorp), 2011-12

University Center Pub

Mike Meaney, S12 Charlie Harrington, C08 Jim McGrail, C87GUSA President, 2011-12 Chair, Students of

Georgetown, Inc. (TheCorp), 2007-08

Senior Management,University Center Pub

Greg Laverriere, C12 Shane Giuliani, C09 Ryan Berg, C10GUSA Vice-President,2011-12

Chair, Students ofGeorgetown, Inc. (TheCorp), 2008-09

Co-Author, Report on StudentSpace

Adam Mortillaro, C12 Stephanie Bean, C09 Fitz Lufkin, C11, G13Speaker, GUSA Senate,2010-11

Co-Chair, Class of 2009Alumni Committee; NSOCoordinator, 2008

Co-Author, Report on StudentSpace


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THE DESIGNThe basement of Healy would be converted into Healy Pub. The layout would

be part student lounge, with space to relax, socialize and study; part bar andrestaurant, to eat and drink; and part performance venue. This would not be thePub of old, with its sticky floors and thundering music. Healy Pub would be open tofaculty and all students regardless of age, though only those over 21 would be

allowed to drink.1 It would be student-owned and operated, through a studentorganization specially-created for the purpose.2 The dcor would reflect HealyHalls historic heritage and could include historical items from Lauingers specialcollections. Student groups on campus could perform at the Pub, from choralevenings with the Chimes and Saxatones to comedy and standup nights with theGeorgetown Improv Association to student bands, poetry slams and more. The Pubcould host trivia nights, karaoke, basketball game watches and other events.Groups could hold receptions in the Pub prior to or after performances in Gaston,like Rangila or Cherry Tree Massacre. In short, Healy Pub would be the socialcenter of campus.

HISTORYOF HEALYPUBFounded in 1974, the

Georgetown University Center Pub,or the Pub as it was affectionatelyknown by generations of alumni, waslocated in Healy Basement (then, asnow, the University Center).Student-run, it won praise year afteryear as the best college bar inAmerica and was the epicenter of

student life for well over a decadeuntil it was forced to close in 1988due in part to falling revenues necessitated bymandatory dry nights. Although the Pub was rebornin the newly-completed Leavey Center, VicePresident of Student Affairs James A. Donahue closedthe bar for good during the 1994-1995 academicyear. Today, the basement of Healy Hall is occupiedby several administrative offices, primarily the officesof Faculty and Staff Benefits and Student Financial Services.

In a 2010 poll by the Georgetown Voice, readers voted the closing of Healy

Pub Georgetowns all-time worst idea.3

Our vision of Healy Pub would alleviatethe problems that necessitated the original Pubs closing; it would beprofessionally-run and managed, through a student organization in consultation

1 Licensees are permitted, though not required, to enforce an age restriction for admittance. D.C. Municipal Reg. 23-905.1.

Several D.C. bars, such at the 9:30 Club, Black Cat, Velvet Lounge and Blues Alley admit those over 18. A stamp or

wristband could distinguish those of legal age.2 Harvards Pub is managed by an alumnus of the class of 2001, salaried by the school, who has restaurant and barmanagement experience, but is otherwise student-owned, managed and operated.3 Chris Heller, Closing the Pub: Georgetowns all-time worst idea, VOX POPULI, Sep. 3, 2010.

http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/09/03/closing-the-pub-georgetowns-all-time-worst-idea/


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with industry professionals, as was done at Harvard through the hiring of a recentalumnus as general manager with restauranteur experience to oversee a group ofstudent managers. Further, it would be open to all faculty and students,maximizing revenuethe Pub, after the drinking age was changed, functioned as a21+ venue only during the evenings, with dry nights to accommodate thoseunder 21 (where sales plummeted). We seek an open and inviting space for allmembers of the Georgetown community, with beer and spirits for students actingas an accompaniment and not the centerpiece. We dont seek to remake theUniversity Center Pub, we seek to make a sophisticated, student-runeating/entertainment establishment that is a safer alternative to M and Wisconsinfor drinking and a tremendous work experience for the employees.


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REPORTON STUDENT SPACEFrom 2008 to 2010, students at Georgetown formed the Student Space

Working Group to address the lack of adequate student space at Georgetown.They surveyed over 1,000 students on a wide variety of space issues andinterviewed campus architect Alan Brangman. In 2010, they produced the Report

on Student Space, a 78 page document that identified a wide-spreaddissatisfaction with student space on campus.

Georgetown is not a student-centered university in terms of spaceallocation, the report stated, and does not provide adequate resources forstudents to attain excellence in their personal,extracurricular and academic lives.Administrators and faculty occupy the premierspaces on campus without a necessary balanceand recognition of student needs. According tothe study, students assess student space asmediocre, reflecting dissatisfaction that the

university does not provide the resourcesnecessary to attain excellence. Students lack thededicated space necessary to develop to theirfull potential as whole persons.4

The report further found thatundergraduate students have been pushed tothe fringes of campus as spaces in the best,historic buildings have changed their purposefrom directly serving students.5

Asked what they desired to see as the center of student life, students bylarge margins overwhelmingly chose Healy Hall, though only 5% of respondents

actually thought it was currently the center of student life. Moreover, students alsooverwhelmingly desire to see student lounge and organization space in Healy,almost twice as many as want student union space in New South.688% ofstudents support the restoration of student space in Healy Hall.

Of the areas students thought most in need of additional space, the topthree responses were study space, social space and dining/eating areas. These topthree far eclipsed the other responses of meeting space, student club space,athletic/exercise areas and studio and performing art space. The creation of HealyPub would serve all three goals students most desire.

Healy Hall today is almost entirely devoted to administrative or facultyspace. Of the five floors in Healy, only the first floor houses classrooms. The

remainder is dedicated to administrative or faculty offices, or departments andinstitutes. Riggs Library, one of the few remaining cast-iron libraries in the UnitedStates, is closed to students except during infrequent special events. Even thePhilodemic Room, an area built specifically for the Philodemic Society, funded byPhilodemic alumni during the creation of Healy, can be closed off for faculty orstaff events if needed. There is no club or student office space in Healy. In short,

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Healy Hall, Georgetowns flagship building and the desired center of campus life bystudents, is virtually closed off to students.


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THE CURRENT SPACEIN HEALYCurrently the space in Healy basement is occupied by several administrative

offices. These primarily include administrators from Human Resources (8members, rooms G-09, G-18), Faculty and Staff Benefits (16 members, rooms G-07, G-18), Campus Ministrys Retreat and ESCAPE programs (5 members, room G-01) and Student Financial Services, (21 members, room G-19).7 The moving of

these administrative offices, as any restructuring, will entail inconveniences andcosts, but we believe the space is available and that the benefits of having a multi-use study, social and entertainment venue in historic Healy far outweigh theinconveniences.

Large amounts of space are opening up oncampus. In September 2009, the Universitycompleted construction of the Hariri Building, a five-story, 179,000 square foot building for the businessschool with space for 120 faculty offices.Furthermore, the University is in the midst ofconstructing a 150,000 square foot Science Center,

scheduled to be completed in 2012, that will allowmultiple science departments to be housed in thesame building. This vast increase of office space andthe coordination of formerly disparate administratorsopens up previously-occupied space in whichdisplaced administrators could be moved, in additionto any already-available space the University has. ThePub, also, need not take up the entirety of thebasement, thus allowing some offices to remain.

Finally, the transition, although inconvenient,would not happen overnight: Harvards Pub was

designed and built over a three-year period, and any similar construction wouldlikely take at least as much time. Administrators would have ample time to plan forthe new locations. In short, we believe the space is there if the Universityprioritizes it. GUSA and administrators should work together to explore thefeasibility of alternative locations, but with the mutual understanding that there isa strong benefit of having a fully-endowed and student-run pub, social,performance and study space and of returning the center of campus life back toHealy.

ALLEVIATING NEIGHBORHOOD & SAFETYCONCERNS

The neighbors are likely to endorse this project. It brings social life back oncampus, not off. And by being open to all students (unlike, e.g., the Tombs after-hours), it draws in students from the neighborhood bars and thus reduces thedisturbance to neighborsand the associated harm to students of being arrestedby MPD. There is precedent for this, too: back in 2006 when the Universityconsidered banning all kegs on campus, the ANC passed unanimously passed a

7 Figures were retrieved from a search of the Georgetown Directory, based on a search of the departments listed as being in

Healy Hall basement on the Georgetown webpage.

Healy Basement Layout, ca. 1970


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resolution againstthe proposal because of concerns would push students andparties off campus.8

The proposal would be beneficial for student safety by providing a safe placefor students to socialize in the evening. By having students drink within an opencampus location, the University can safely monitor students drinking and ensurethat they do not become dangerously intoxicated. Those showing the effects ofheavy intoxication can be dealt with safely and quickly via GERMS. Issues andconduct violations will be dealt with by DPS and the administration, not MPD andthe courts, ensuring that youthful mistakes do not result in permanent judicialrecords. By being located in Healy, away from residence halls, sound will notdisturb students or neighbors. This is not by any means a silver bullet for all safetyissues, but it is a substantial step forward from the current situation.

8 Anna Bank, Neighbors pass resolution opposing keg ban. GEORGETOWN VOICE, Dec. 7, 2006.

http://georgetownvoice.com/2006/12/07/neighbors-pass-resolution-opposing-keg-ban/


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HARVARDS EXAMPLE: THE CAMBRIDGE QUEENS HEAD PUBThe recent creation by Harvard of a student-

centered pub in one of its flagship historicbuilding is an illustrative example of how a pub inHealy might be brought about.

At the heart of Harvards campus sits MemorialHall, dedicated in 1878 as a monument toHarvard alumni who died during the Civil War.The buildings Gothic form links back to theideological roots of the university as Harvarditself was founded in the British academictradition. From the time of Memorial Halls

completion in 1876, and for more than six decades after, the lower levels use waslimited to storage and mechanical space.

In the spring of 2005 Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross was eager toexplore the potential of the Commons to serve as an undergraduate social space.

The Dean tapped a young graduate of Harvard College, Zac Corker 04 tospearhead the effort. From the outset, student involvement defined the planningprocess, as undergraduates advised everything from interior design to drafting abusiness plan for the pub. The meticulous planning extended to the future menu,evident in the Pub Grub Taste Test series, at which undergraduates sampledcompeting products and rated their favorites.

An excursion to a Boston area brewery founded by Harvard alumni was alsoorganized, and students (all of-age seniors of the Class of 2006) sampled beersand choose the recipe for a unique brew to be served only at the Harvard pub.Students choose a well-balanced medium bodied beer with a moderately bitter hopfinish dubbing it, fittingly, 1636.

The 176-seat, 12,000 square foot pub was built and opened for businessApril 2007. It can accoodate up to 450 guests. The College administration islistening to students, and the message we hear is clear: Social life is important tous, and we want the College to facilitate opportunities for on-campus socialinteractions with our peers, said Judith H. Kidd, associate dean of Harvard Collegefor student life and activities, The Queens Head will offer an open and invitingspace to meet on campus, whether with an instructor or a group of friends. Ourplans focus on programming and entertainment, as well as a full, reasonably pricedfood menu. We see beer and wine service for students of legal age as anaccompaniment, not the centerpiece.9

The pub, designed by Boston architecture firm Miller Dyer Spears, was built

at a total cost of $3,000,000.10 Today, the pub provides ample study and socialspace, a performance venue for student groups, pool tables and dart boards, and afully-functioning bar and restaurant. The bar is student-run, giving studentsvaluable opportunities for management roles. Scott Smider, an alumnus withrestaurateur experience, serves as general manager and oversees a staff of eleven

9 Steve Bradt, Harvard College sets Cambridge Queens Head opening for April 19, HARVARD GAZETTE, March 1 2007.http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/03/harvard-college-sets-cambridge-queens-head-opening-for-april-19/10 SCHOOL DESIGNS: HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE QUEENS HEAD PROJECT DETAILS. http://schooldesigns.com/Project-

Details.aspx?Project_ID=3239


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student managers and one hundred student employees. While only those 21 andover may drink, the area is open for all students. Undergraduates, graduatestudents, student groups, faculty and staff alike utilize the area and it has becomea focal point of campus life. On the following page are some pictures of the venue.


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FREQUENTLYASKED QUESTIONS

1. There will be a bar/cafe/restaurant in the proposed New South StudentCenter. We should put the money towards there (or to something else,and just have that as the bar).

This Pub is in no way intended to preempt any part of the New South StudentCenter, or the serving of alcohol at any locations within it.

a. Timing. There's no telling when the New South Student Center will bebuilt. The cost estimates range from $25-50 million, none of which has yetbeen raised. The creation of the student center may not occur for five or tenyears, or even longer. We can build this space in a relatively short period oftime, since the infrastructure is already there.

b. Architecture. There's no telling what the caf will look like. Healy isunique - the crown jewel of campus architecture. One simply cannot recreate

the feeling of being in Healy elsewhere, as the attempted and failed revivalof the pub in the Leavey Center demonstrated, and the New South StudentCenter would not even be a close attempt.

c. Atmosphere. It is unclear whether the caf will serve alcohol, whether itwill be primarily a bar atmosphere that serves food (like Tombs) or arestaurant atmosphere that serves drinks (like a TGI Friday's). Additionally,this proposed pub is multifaceted, featuring study space, performance space,food and drinks.

d. Ownership. It is also unclear whether the caf will be student-owned and

operated or not. Student ownership is a key factor in this proposal, givingstudents hands-on, real-world experience in managing a pub and restaurant.

e. Funding. Students themselves, through the $3.4 million endowment, areoffering to pay for Healy Pub. The University is then ultimately shoulderingvery little burden on themselves. If students overwhelmingly want a pub inHealy and are willing to pay for it, why not give them it?

2. This function is largely served by the Tombs.

While the Tombs does have strong ties to campus and traditions such as 99

Days, it does not fully serve the goals outlined at the beginning of the report.

First, the Tombs after-hours is only open to those students 21 or older. Thisfunctions to limit the Tombs primarily to juniors and seniors. Healy Pub wouldbe open to students of all ages, although only those of age would be able todrink.

Second, the Tombs is not primarily a study space. Healy Pub, like Harvardspub, would provide ample space for studying during the day. As it would be


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communal, student-owned space, no one would be pressured to purchaseanything in order to stay, as in Tombs.

Third, the Tombs is not student-owned and operated. There is a world ofdifference between Vital Vittles and CVS, even though they sell the sameproducts; Vittles and its companion locations offer students real-worldexperience in running and managing a company. The Pub would givestudents the opportunity both to manage a bar and restaurant, bartend,manage events and moresomething students do not currently have theopportunity to do at Georgetown.

Fourth, this project addresses the pressing concern of students to take backownership of historic buildings. Students overwhelmingly desire to seestudent space in Healy.

3. Creating this will require moving several administrative offices.

See the Current Space in Healy, page 6.

4. The project may be more expensive than $3.4 million.

The cost of such a pub needs to be fully explored, but projects of comparablesize (like Harvard's) were designed for $3 million. Alumni have indicated thatthey would donate to bring this to fruition, and the University Center PubAlumni have formed an extensive network to facilitate this. Students couldeven contribute through a one time "levy" much like the Student ActivitiesFee; a $100 surcharge per student would raise about $700,000 extra infunds. Additionally, the endowment is still growing by 5-10%+ per year,

which brings in approximately $170,000 to $340,000 extra per annummeaning that the source of funds available will grow during the explorationand planning phases of the project. In soliciting architectural andconstruction bids, we can cap the initial bidding at a percentage (e.g., 80%)of the total endowment to cushion for any delays or overages.

5. Liquor licenses may be expensive to obtain.

a. If the New South Student Center Caf is to serve alcohol, it will have to gothrough the same processes. Whatever hurdles the NSSC Cafe will have toovercome, so will Healy Pub. The existence of the bar in the Leavey Center

and Epicurian and Co. demonstrate that it is possible to obtain liquor licenseson campus locations.

b. Licensing is not overburdeningly expensive, on the range of severalhundred to several thousand dollars per year.11 There are also differentlicenses and costs for beer and wine, and beer, wine & spirits. Nonetheless,this is certainly an issue that should be explored further.

11See DISTRICTOF COLUMBIA ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE REGULATION ADMINISTRATIONhttp://abra.dc.gov/DC/ABRA/Licenses/License+and+Processing+Fees


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6. The local community/ANC may be up in arms about it.

See Alleviating Neighborhood and Safety Concerns, page 6.

7. Will there be enough students to run a full-time a bar and restaurant?

The Pub is intended to be student-owned and operated and should bepursued as such to the greatest extent possible. Nonetheless, theresponsibilities of running a bar and restaurant are manifold: HarvardsCambridge Queens Head Pub employs one general manager (a salarieduniversity employee), eleven student managers and one hundred students(bartenders, busboys, servers, cooks, etc.). Employing non-students in someof these roles (e.g., as cooks, busboys or servers), just as providing aprofessional manager as an overseer, would not impair the spirit of astudent-run operation. The Pub would still remain managed by students andgive preference to hiring students to fill positions before turning to non-

students.

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