As a graduating senior I would like to start off by taking this
opportunity to thank Ben Howland and the basketball team for a
memorable season in which we took our first steps back toward where
we belong, among the elite teams in college basketball. Although
the season ended earlier than I had hoped, what ended up being more
tragic was that we could not share the moment together as
Bruins.
Our school of over 30,000 students does not have a place to
celebrate our wins, a place to share in defeat, a place to just be.
And for a school of 30,000, that is a shame. Which brings me to my
main point: We need a sports bar on campus.
That’s why I founded a club on campus and on the Facebook.
As the founder of Bruins for an On-Campus Bar, I propose the bar be
placed in the Viewpoint Lounge and adjoining room in Ackerman
Union, where Tsunami is currently located.
Although true that Westwood contains many bars where students
can go and watch Bruin sports, it is not true that these bars are
friendly to the fellow Bruin.
I decided to go out and watch our NCAA Tournament game at
Maloney’s “On Campus.” When I arrived I was
shocked to see that on the night of UCLA’s biggest major
sports game in three years they decided to charge $10 admission
because it also happened to be St. Patrick’s Day.
My friends and I opted for a table at Brew Co. instead. As the
game started we realized that the crowd was not what we had
expected. It was a crowd of local working people, without many UCLA
fans in attendance and most not even aware that a UCLA game was
going on.
We were so frustrated we decided we should watch the remainder
of the game from our apartment instead.
After the game I got to thinking about the need for an on-campus
bar, and where it should go.
The best place to put the bar is in the Viewpoint Lounge in
Ackerman. The Viewpoint Lounge is a rarely used space that is
mostly utilized by students taking naps between classes.
The view out the large Viewpoint windows presents a view of the
sports areas on campus, including the Sports Hall of Fame, the
Wooden Center and the Bruin Bear. The Tsunami area can also be used
for seating, and Tsunami could be traded with a different on-campus
restaurant more fitting for a bar. Finally, a main entrance to the
bar could be placed by the ATMs, allowing for control of the flow
of people.
Although it’s also true that the campus has many meeting
places for Bruins, the fact is there is no place we Bruins have to
just meet and socialize. What this campus has is many places where
students can go to study and maybe whisper quietly.
An on-campus sports bar, however, would be a meeting place for
fellow Bruins to get together and socialize with each other.
Some may say there is no way for an on-campus bar to be able to
control under-age drinking or binge drinking. But that is untrue on
both accounts.
The bar could mandate that everyone be carded ““ this
eliminates the worry of under-age drinking. As for limiting binge
drinking, the bar can limit the number of drinks one is allowed to
buy. This can be done by swiping driver’s licenses and
keeping track of drinks with a computer. We swipe in for services
every day on campus, anyway.
There are no reasons why an on-campus sports bar should not be
created. All worries can be addressed with safeguards that will be
put in place. In the end, the bar is not just about drinking, it is
about a place to call our own.
We need a place to watch our sports teams together, a place to
meet friends, a place where we are able to have a loud
conversation, meet new people and have a good time. The bar would
contribute to the UCLA spirit and promote unity among the thousands
of diverse people who attend, work or teach here.
A bar would give us a centralized location for Bruins to gather
with friends, meet other Bruin fans, and root our teams on to
victory. And who could oppose school spirit? Only someone who is
not “True Blue.”
Pichotta is a fourth-year computer science and engineering
student and founder of Bruins for an On-Campus Bar.