University squashes plan to open Den for BSD

By Fabian Mayer, April 12 2016 —

University administration is putting a stop to the Students’ Union’s plan to open the Den and serve liquor on April 13. The Den has not been open on Bermuda Shorts Day since 2009.

SU president Levi Nilson said they were going to open the campus bar — which operates under the university’s liquor license — as an alternative to the BSD beer gardens. According to Nilson, everything was in place for the Den to open on BSD until administration stepped in.

“I had a meeting today with some university administrators and they said they would revoke the liquor license if we had the Den open,” Nilson said.

Campus Security chief Brian Sembo said the SU didn’t let the university know about the plans until this week.

“We just don’t have the necessary plans and resources in place — and it’s too short notice to get them in place — to handle that kind of additional workload,” Sembo said.

Nilson disagrees with the university’s reasoning. He said the SU already pays for extra security around campus, including in MacHall, to ensure BSD runs smoothly.

“It’s completely doable and it would be an awesome thing to have,” Nilson said. “It’s pretty horrible that we now have to tell thousands of people that an event they might have been looking forward to is cancelled for no good reason.”

According to Sembo, most of the extra security brought in for BSD is concentrated around the beer gardens. He thinks the Den might have been allowed to serve alcohol if the SU told Campus Security about the plan earlier.

“It would be essentially the same as a Thursden night where we require a full security crew that we just won’t have available,” Sembo said.

The SU has the option of opening and not serving alcohol, something Nilson said wouldn’t make financial sense.

Nilson argues the university has no good reason to revoke the license for BSD.

“Since my time at the university I’ve dealt with heavy-handed tactics and ‘my way or the highway kind of things,” Nilson said. “This is just another example of that.”

The BSD beer gardens will take place on April 13 from 12:00–5:00p.m. in lot 32.