Georgetown has spoken. (Er … voted.) Closing Georgetown’s once-upon-a-time, on-campus bar, the Pub, was the worst idea the University has had. Ever!

“Revising the alcohol policy” and “selling WGTB’s radio license” finished in second and third place, respectively.

Let’s recap the University’s terrible, awful, despicable decision to close the Pub:

Healy Hall was once the center of student life on campus, with the student-run Pub serving as its drunken core. The Pub was a ‘sticky, smelly, sweaty, time-of-your-life,’ one former manager said. [...]

It won praise year after year as the best college bar in America, but slowly went bankrupt in the late 1980s after a new alcohol policy forced its student managers to host a dry night once a week. Although the Pub was reborn in the newly-completed Leavey Center, Vice President of Student Affairs James A. Donahue closed the bar for good during the 1994-1995 academic year.

R.I.P. Pub. We wish we had the pleasure of knowing you.

As always, Vox readers came through with some fantastic submissions. (And we learned that you’re a terribly cynical bunch!) You’ll find our favorites below, with a little bit of background info added to help you along.

Closing the Pub

Its hushed halls now home to the president’s bureaucracy and a handful of exclusive administrator offices, Healy Hall was once the center of student life on campus, with the student-run Pub serving as its drunken core. The Pub was a “sticky, smelly, sweaty, time-of-your-life,” one former manager said—a place where you could get trashed any night of the week you pleased on 50-cent beer in the relative safety of an on-campus establishment.

Occasionally, you might have spotted the bar’s faculty adviser, then Dean of Students John DeGioia, imbibing at the counter. It won praise year after year as the best college bar in America, but slowly went bankrupt in the late 1980s after a new alcohol policy forced its student managers to host a dry night once a week. Although the Pub was reborn in the newly-completed Leavey Center, Vice President of Student Affairs James A. Donahue closed the bar for good during the 1994-1995 academic year.

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