Door closes on pub for this year

"Miscommunication" between the University and the Borough Council late last year led the Pub Committee to indefinitely postpone plans for regular pub nights, Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said yesterday.

Plans for a permanent University pub have also been tabled for now, though discussions with the Borough will continue.

"We do not have a timeline for revisiting this idea, but it won't be this year," Dickerson said in an email. The University, however, still may host a number of "themed alcohol events."

USG president Alex Lenahan '07 emphasized, however, that negotiations between the University and the Borough were ongoing, and that he hoped that an on-campus pub would soon be a reality.

"A permanent pub would ultimately be a great asset to students on campus," Lenahan said. "I think that everyone involved is hopeful that at some point in the future, the town will be interested in starting a dialogue on the issue and working with us through whatever the proper legal means are to eventually get a permanent pub, however long that may take."

Last April, the Pub Committee held the first of several planned pub nights at Chancellor Green Cafe.

The event, which attracted a large crowd of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty with its wine, beer and live jazz, was intended to gauge demand for a permanent campus bar.

Subsequent pub nights were put on hold, however, after the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) sent a letter to the University prohibiting the distribution of alcohol at the upcoming events.

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"Princeton University may not sell, serve or deliver alcoholic beverages at the Chancellor Green Cafe" at the three remaining pub nights, the letter read, in part.

Borough Clerk Andrea Quinty said the state and Borough's concerns over the trial pub were sparked by an article in The Times of Trenton explaining that the pilot program could possibly lead to a permanent University bar.

Before holding the first pub night, the University had applied for a social affair permit, an alcohol license for a "onetime social gathering usually around a nonprofit or civic organization," Quinty said in an interview.

Borough Police Chief Anthony Federico and Quinty signed off on the permit, as did ABC.

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After reading the Times article, however, Quinty said that she and Federico both questioned the appropriateness of the social affair permit.

"A social affair is for a specific event. If you have five or six of them in a year and that's to test a pub, it wouldn't really be a social affair. It would be a test of a pub," Quinty explained. "We became concerned they didn't understand the separation of different permits."

Quinty said that Borough attorney Michael Herbert contacted the University the day the Times' article ran and advised them "not to go forward with it" and to "allow for appropriate review by the Borough."

In response, the University cancelled two planned pub nights and submitted a new permit, incorporating comments by the Borough. The name of the event was also changed to "Cafe After Dark" after the Borough suggested eliminating "pub" from the title.

Though the Borough approved the new permit, the application was withdrawn because ABC approval did not come quickly enough to allow the University to arrange personnel for the event.

Quinty said the Borough would support attempts by the University to hold alcohol events this year. "We're committed to working with them for getting through a next step to get through the process," she said. "But they have not submitted another application."

Plans are underway, however, for "a number of themed alcohol events" including performances by members of the University community and "a broad selection of beers and wines," USG senator Andrea Pasinetti '08 said in an email.

Lenahan said he was pleased that the University was able to organize these "separate and unrelated events" and that "members of the Borough might want to attend so they could see firsthand the same wonderful thing that everyone talked about last year."

Dickerson confirmed these plans, adding that "we are encouraged by the students' commitment to bringing responsible social options to campus."