Starting in May, no one under 19 will be allowed into club nights at TwelvEighty.

The rule change does not apply when the campus bar is acting “in the capacity of a restaurant or a bookable venue.” Campus groups that book the space for an evening event, then, could invite students of all ages.

But when TwelvEighty is operating normally as a nightclub, which it typically does on Thursday nights, no minors will be permitted to enter.

“We’re going to have a little shift in how we operate the nightclub now. Time will have to tell what that means in terms of our operations, in terms of our reach,” said Derek Spekkens, service manager at TwelvEighty.

The change was made at the Nov. 25 Student Representative Assembly meeting, where members decided that the risks of letting 17- and 18-year-old students into the club outweighed the rewards.

The original proposal was to make the change effective Jan. 1, but members were wary of upsetting current underage students and preferred to wait until a new crop of first-years come to McMaster.

Currently, the bar allows a maximum of 25 underage patrons in at a time on typical club nights.

Before Spekkens and other members of the management took over, around when Quarters was re-branded to TwelvEighty in 2009, up to 50 minors were permitted to enter.

He explained that, to make the club nights more manageable, that number was decreased, and all patrons (not just underage ones) were given coloured wristbands to help bartenders make age distinctions. Alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic ones are also served in different sized cups so that security can tell if a minor is holding an alcoholic beverage.

“There have been steps to try to improve the offering and still keep it inclusive,” said Spekkens. But now that the SRA has made the change, “it will be our challenge as managers to keep this place a thriving business entity.”

Even the limited allowance of minors has made the bar particularly popular among first-year students living in residence, many of whom would not otherwise be able to go to a nightclub.

A memo to the SRA from its Operations Committee, though, expressed concern that minors “create an added working pressure for staff that is a drain on time and resources” and that TwelvEighty takes on the liability of first-years coming into the bar, many of whom might have consumed alcohol beforehand.

The memo also pointed out, though, that despite frequent visits by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, TwelvEighty hasn’t received a license suspension since 2007.

Under current operating policies, a minor “found consuming alcohol, in possession of alcohol, or show[ing] signs of past consumption of alcohol” must attend an alcohol awareness seminar and be barred from the club until their twentieth birthday. According to the memo submitted to the SRA, enforcement has been lax on these and similar penalties.

Spekkens acknowledged that the alcohol awareness “should be more robust … It’s definitely not something that TwelvEighty has been structured or directed to run.”

Spekkens did, though, point to the multiple levels of security, both in the bar and on campus, that allows TwelvEighty to provide a safe environment at club nights. “The purpose of being in this environment is to come of age and learn about responsibility and consequences,” he said.

All-ages or not, the TwelvEighty management team will continue working to offer students a positive experience.

“At the end of the day,” added Spekkens, “do students remember that third-year calculus class, or do they remember that amazing Halloween party they had at TwelvEighty?”

Sam Colbert

Managing Editor

If all goes according to plan, the transition will be seamless.

As it normally would, the Phoenix will close for the holidays after December exams. When it reopens for second term in January, the Pheonix will be in its new location on the main floor of the Refectory building, above Bridges Café.

“We’ve been working on this project for three years,” said Jessica Merolli, president of the Graduate Students Association (GSA). In the same way that the MSU owns TwelvEighty, the not-for-profit Phoenix is owned by the GSA.

The renovation will be funded by graduate student fees, which means that prices will generally be unaffected.

The new location will feature a higher capacity, a larger patio and an expanded kitchen. But given the success of the Phoenix in its current Wentworth House location, project managers have tried to maintain the rustic feel that differentiates the bar from other campus establishments, like TwelvEighty.

“We’re building on the older feel,” said Merolli. “It’s not a modern-looking restaurant; it’s kind of that mix, like a gastro-pub. We really want to keep the pub element of the look of the Phoenix.”

Though the new kitchen will allow for more specials and menu additions, the Phoenix menu won’t change drastically in the move. Burgers, for example, will continue to be a staple, especially with the addition of a charbroiler to the kitchen.

“We’re still going to have the microbreweries on tap – we’re still going to have a lot of beers on tap, a lot of variety,” added Merolli. “When we went into the project, we knew that these are the kinds of things the Phoenix does really well, and we want to continue to do them really well.”

Even since the 1980s, there has been discussion of demolishing Wentworth House. With the Phoenix and other organizations gradually moving to other locations, it looks like the building is finally on its way to being torn down.

“It’s important for the Phoenix to get a permanent space on campus. We’re taking over the space, and it’s not like Wentworth House, where you can never get a straight answer of what’s happening to that building … so it’s nice to have a building that can’t be torn down, because [the Refectory] is a heritage building.”

Originally, the Refectory housed the campus cafeteria. More recently, the space has been used for exams, among other things, while being reserved from any permanent use in anticipation of the Phoenix move.

Along with the bar, the Graduate Students Association offices are moving out of Wentworth House and into the Refectory building. But, because the GSA move would interfere with the operations of Bridges, they will wait until May, when Bridges closes for the summer.

A big priority for Merolli has been moving the bar and the offices to a wheelchair-accessible location. “There are grad students that can’t get to our office which is, for me, unacceptable. It is a lot of money to be spending, but I’m excited to set up the GSA as an organization that is accessible,” she said.

Merolli is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in political science. She’s been President of the GSA for two and a half years, and the project started just before her three-year term did. “It’s really nice to see that it is actually happening.”

There is a chance that the move from one location to the other, which will require transport of the point-of-sale system, among other equipment, will spill into the first week of second term. A second debit/credit machine will likely also be added to accommodate the extra patrons. Though, because major renovations will be complete, the move won’t take long.