Yesterday afternoon, the University in conjunction with GUSA announced that Fritz Brogan (COL ’07) will be the manager for the new pub in New South Student Center. Brogan owns the popular student bar Mason Inn in Glover Park and belongs to a family with strong ties to the University.

19 different pub and restaurant providers were solicited for consideration for managing the pub, and the list was narrowed down by a group of administrators and students before Brogan was selected.

“Students were loud and clear that we want someone that understands what it’s like to be a student, what our needs are, how we want to make this place our own. Fritz, having been an incredibly involved student while he was here … and has been a strong alum … it really made sense for us,” said Chief Business Officer for University Services Debbie Morey. “We couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”

The design and atmosphere of the bar have not been decided on yet. While the bar will incorporate television screens for watching sporting events, Brogan will establish a design once he receives sufficient input from students.

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GUSA leaders came to an agreement with the administration Thursday regarding the planned pub in the New South Student Center.

GUSA President Clara Gustafson and Vice President Vail Kohnert-Yount signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dr. Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs, to ensure the pub will serve students’ interests (e.g. that it won’t turn into an Epicurean-like business).

The new campus bar will serve beer, wine, and liquor on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and will include 18+ nights or a system of wristbands for underage students, according to the agreement. The vendor will also be required to hire Georgetown students for part-time positions in addition to creating a committee to guide the business.

“The pub vendor will form a committee, comprised of students, members of Students Affairs, a member of GUSA, and a member from the University Services, and pub vendor, to provide input on menu, food and drink selection, student programming, and advertising of the pub,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson said these requirements are a “real-time” way for students to provide input and will help the pub become a student hot spot rather than another on-campus business overrun by professionals. She believes the accessibility for underage students and its location in the NSSC will help designate the pub as a student-oriented business.

“We are confident [the location] will be a new hub of student life for underclassmen and upperclassmen alike, [and] will draw more students to the space,” Gustafson said.

The pub has been part of the plan for the NSSC since the 2010-2011 school year. This proposal was presented shortly after students and alumni launched a campaign to bring back the Healy Pub. The pub, which opened in 1974 and closed in the 1994-1995 school year, had operated in the Healy basement, but President John DeGioia‘s administration tabled the idea of re-opening the establishment in that location. Students then opted for the possibility of NSSC space.

According to Gustafson, GUSA is already pushing for the ability to pay with GOCards. Vox is just excited that she’ll be 21 by the time the bar actually opens in the 2014-2015 school year (ideally).

Read the full letter after the jump!

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On the evening of Monday, October 3rd, a forum about the New South Student Center took place in the Leavey Programming Room. The forum, which primarily featured a presentation by SmithGroup architect Bill Ash, focused on the “feasibility study” of the NSSC, rather than specific design and details, which remain works-in-progress.

Ash noted that the skeleton of the space’s architecture is in a pretty good state, although there will be miscellaneous necessary repairs over the next few years.. There will be quite a bit of demolition involved as well, as the majority of the interior of the ground floor is old and abandoned, and some of the finishes from the old dining hall are still there. The goal is to re-imagine New South by making full use of the enormous amount of space available on the ground level, and to restructure it to better make use of all of its space. As proposed, the NSSC will be accessible all the time.

The scope of the program, which consists of three plans, was presented in the forum. The lower level’s existing conference room will be converted into a loading dock, along with a storage area that will contain a variety of flexible furniture for student use. The over 3,000 square feet of ground level will house a sizable food-service venue, which will differ from places like Hoya Court and Epicurean in that it will be a club-like setting, which will conduce to students’ exiting after having a brief meal. The details as to whether the area will consist of a restaurant, a student-run venue, a pub, or a bar are, for the most part, undecided.

“A lot of that is still being defined, but the administration is seriously interested in pursuing serving alcohol in that space,” Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said at the forum. “I don’t want it to be a place just about maximizing profit and pouring hard liquor day and night. There is serious interest on exploring a venue that serves alcohol, but also that not being the one single overarching goal of it.”

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This fall, the saga of the proposed New South Student Center continues as the university enters into the public phase of their capital campaign this October. However, as discussions proceed over the layout of the NSSC, the administration appears to be leaving talks on the Healy space on the back-burner.

“It’s [NSSC] being presented as one of the key elements of the capital campaign,” Todd Olson, Vice President for Student Affairs, said. On the viability of Healy, Olson adds, “I very much hear and respect the student interest in having space in Healy and I take that seriously, but I don’t have any well-developed ideas on what or how or where. But I hear that point and I know it’s a part of what the students want to continue.”

Many students, particularly those involved in the Georgetown University Student Association’s Healy Space Working Group, welcome the idea of student space in New South, but are disappointed at the unwillingness of the administration to hear ideas presented about Healy. To note, the two projects are not mutually exclusive: NSSC will go ahead regardless of student space in Healy. However, if Healy is deemed unfeasible, the $3.23 million allocated by the endowment commission would be reallocated, and $1.75 million would go toward New South.

Chris Pigott (COL ’12), who is a leader on the “Bring Back Healy Pub” campaign as well as a GUSA senator and working group member, wants plans for Healy to remain a priority in the capital campaign.

“We’ve never had the chance to argue any type of merits with the administration,” Pigott said. “I think that’s wrong and until we have the chance to argue the merits to the provost, to Todd Olson, to anyone who will listen, any kind of decision on their part is premature and doesn’t necessarily respect the work that students and alums have put into the project.”

GUSA President Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Vice President Greg Laverriere (COL’12)  look to the campaign and the plans on NSSC optimistically.

“The Leavey Center is already a natural center for club and organization space,” Laverriere said. “And New South should be the social space, located near Leo’s, right near upper classman dorms, the Quad, Village C East and West. New South is the natural center for social life on campus.”

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Last night, the Georgetown University Student Association’s Finance and Appropriations Committee met to discuss updates from the Endowment working groups.

The meeting began with a short discussion about Healy Pub, and the nails that Jack DeGioia and Todd Olsen banged into its coffin in their meeting with student media earlier this month. Although GUSA had initially backed the Healy Pub idea, voting to allocate most of the $3.4 million endowment to its creation.

“I don’t think anyone thinks there’s a whole lot of life left in that proposal,” FinApp Chair Colton Malkerson (COL ’13) said of the plan.

With the impending failure of the Healy Pub idea, FinApp’s meeting primarily focused on following up on proposals for the endowment. The first group to present was Georgetown Energy, who spoke about their proposal to put solar panels on 43 of Georgetown’s University-owned townhouses. Originally, the SAFE commission voted to dedicate the portion of the endowment that was not allocated to Healy Pub—about $170,000—to this project.

At the meeting, a group of members of Georgetown Energy, including co-founders Peter Nulsen (COL ’12) and Anthony Conyers (COL ’12), and manager of the townhouse project David Nulsen (COL ’12) and whom Malkerson referred to as “The Solar Boys,” went in front of the FinApp committee to discuss the progress of their proposal since the spring. The group is in the process of soliciting a Request for Proposals from five vendors in the area to install and maintain the panels. The installation of these panels would, according to Peter Nulsen, bring in an $400,000 gross payback, all of which will go back to the Georgetown student body.

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Yesterday evening, President Jack DeGioia and Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson sat down with campus media to answer any questions they have at the start of the 2011-2012 academic year. We would like to thank all of our commenters who responded to our call for suggestions. Be forewarned, they had a lot to say:

DeGioia: Let me say some key things that shape the way I think about things at the start of this year. First it’s [been] an extraordinary opening to this year. Just a week ago the walls were shaking here in Healy Hall, which was a first experience [for me]. My immediate reaction was, “Who was rehearsing upstairs in Gaston?” We recognize that we experienced something unprecedented. Then we anticipated the arrival of Hurricane Irene, and I felt so pleased with the way in which our whole university responded—from our emergency response team to the residence hall staff to the families who were all affected in one way or another. As you know we had to move our convocation from Sunday to Tuesday and make other adjustments along the way. But it was inspiring to watch the way in which everybody responded.

I have the chance to teach an Ignatius seminar in the College this fall, and had a chance to start this morning. I think we’re fully launched for the start of the year.

I’m welcoming a bunch of new leaders to the university at this time. I had a chance yesterday at the Mass of the Holy Spirit to welcome four of them. There’s Fr. Kevin O’Brien, who has served at the university for the last three years. He took over as Vice President for Mission and Ministry and I’m really pleased about that. Kevin’s an alum of ours. He came here during his undergraduate days so I feel we’re in very good hands in Campus Ministry with Kevin’s leadership. Fr. Joe Lingan joined us as the new head of the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and he came to us this past year from a high school from right across town where he was the principal. Fr. Lingan is a wonderful addition to our Georgetown community. Rachel Gartner joins us as our new rabbi, and she just came to campus in the last two weeks. And then there’s somebody who has been with us for a while but took on a new role as head of our Protestant ministry and that’s Rev. Bryant Oskvig.

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Just like last year, Vox is helping you get on top of “news you can use” with an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. You’ve already heard of foolish things former freshman have done. Now, we cover the other on-campus issues that made headlines; Healy Pub, Uribe, and unions come after the jump.

Cash rules everything around me

The Georgetown University Student Association is your undergraduate student government.

Between a president, vice president, cabinet, and 25-member Senate (elected at-large and from dorms), the student association funds initiatives such as Summer Fellows, subsidized LSAT courses, free newspapers, and weekend GUTS busses.

Despite cleaning up its act in recent years, GUSA is also a source of endless entertainment: botched elections, interpersonal bickering, toothless resolutions, and campaign silliness.

Most importantly, though, GUSA allocates the student activities fee that students pay every semester.

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Last week, Vox caught up with Chris Pigott, GUSA senator and student liaison for the Healy Student Space, to see how the project was faring.

Pigott indicated that Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs, was not keen on the idea in their first meeting. However, he referred the group to University departments that could help further develop the concept.

“It’s only fair to us and the University to answer any and all questions that may arise,” Pigott said. “I think it’s a good sign that [Olson] is helping us to make this proposal better.”

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GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations committee has named the “Working Groups” to be responsible for creating plans to implement the proposals of the Student Activities Endowment Commission.

The groups, operating in tandem with FinApp, will be responsible for further developing the set of proposals approved by the Endowment Commission at the end of April. The working groups will be responsible for researching the feasibility of each project, obtaining formal University support for proposals and then developing plans for their implementation.

According to the operating procedures established by FinApp, “[the feasibility of projects] must be determined for primary recommendations by the end of the fall 2011 semester and for secondary recommendations by the end of February 2012.”

A group consisting of three FinApp members, along with student body president and vice-president Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Greg Lavarierre (COL ’12), will oversee groups implementing specific projects. Individual working groups have been established to study the Healy Student Space and Solar Energy proposals, along with the alternative proposed allocations for the SIPS fund and New South Student Center.

After the jump, read the full FinApp report including membership of each group.

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The SAFE commission voted last night to allocate nearly all of its $3.4 million endowment to the creation of the Healy Student Space as part of its primary recommendation to GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations committee.

The commission also designated a “secondary” slate of projects to consider in the event that the Healy project proves unfeasible, with money potentially going towards a new student space in New South, the SIPS social entrepreneurship fund, and an omnibus grant for improvements to existing student spaces.

In total, the SAFE commission voted to recommend $3,230,000 be allocated towards the Healy Pub, with the remaining $170,000 going towards the construction of energy-saving solar panels on university townhouses.

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