April 28, 2000
Mount Vernon Campus Pub
6 p.m.

Students from both Mount Vernon and Foggy Bottom campuses got together Friday to bid farewell to an important part of Mount Vernon campus: the Pub. The Mount Vernon Pub is a small, diner-esqe building, which provided a place for students to get drinks and snacks. It features a small lounge area in the back, used by the students for recreation and also for planning events such as the popular Coffee House series, Women and Power symposia and other programming done by the Activities office.

Around 6 p.m. when the event started, turn-out was pretty low, but it soon started picking up. At the barbecue, students and faculty sat around socializing and munching on barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs. There was also a solo performance by a member from the band Zoot, Andrew Dykers, which everyone seemed to enjoy. The night closed with a spectacular fireworks performance at the soccer field, where students got to say their final farewells to the Pub.

The Pub is closing to make way for renovations to the Mount Vernon campus, which will include more residence halls and improved athletic fields. A new summer residence hall, new tennis courts and new NCAA regulation soccer and softball fields will crown the new campus.

Organizing the Farewell to the Pub required a lot of work, said Arline Duffy, director of Student Development at Mount Vernon, including acquiring city permits for the fireworks display. Jennifer Christian, student activities coordinator, also helped with the planning.

She explained that closing the Pub affects many people on the campus.

It’s been a Mount Vernon College fixture, and it’s certainly been a fixture for me with the Coffee House series, so it’s kind of celebrating what it’s meant to this campus and its importance here, Christian said. A few Mount Vernon students said they were also sad to see the closing of the Pub.

It provides an alternative for food when the dining hall is not available, because we’re so far from J Street, freshmen Dre Kalili said.

Dining halls close before the Pub did and enabled students to grab late-night snacks, freshman Leah Brndjar said.

Freshmen Jennie Roloff said that she’s actually going to miss it because it has a nice, quaint atmosphere. Coming up here for the coffee houses was really cool, and it’s going to be gone.

The best thing about hanging at the Pub was playing darts in the back lounge area and scarfing chicken crisps, she said. As portrayed by the students and faculty, the Pub meant a lot to the Mount Vernon campus.

It’s gonna be a different place without the Pub, Duffy said. But she said she believes that the promise of a remodeled campus will help students and faculty cope with its loss.