College considers selling Mug liquor license to Aramark

Aaron Biberstein Contributing Editor

In conjunction with the Senior Class Gift’s renovation of Matthew’s Mug, College administrators have been considering the sale of the Mug’s liquor license to Aramark, the corporation that runs food services on campus. Aramark is already responsible for the daily running of the Mug, and for performing tasks such as acquiring alcohol and hiring bartenders.

Though Aramark runs the day-to-day operation, the bar’s liquor license is controlled by a wholly owned subsidiary of the college, Matthew’s Mug, Inc., with Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker serving as president. The subsidiary was set up ten years ago as a legal firewall to protect the College from liability issues associated with serving alcohol.

The College is still dealing with those liability issues. “In our discussion [with Aramark] we talked about the possibility of expanding the space, but we also have to think about liability issues,” said Dean of the College JJ Jackson. “The two things that cause me to lose sleep at night are the thought of students getting drunk and hurting themselves and the possibility of a disaster and our preparedness.”

Jackson said that the transfer of the liquor license to Aramark would provide an extra layer of protection against lawsuits, but she added that the liability issue is just one part of a complicated process. She noted that Aramark can also provide specific expertise on the renovation of the Mug. For example, Jackson said that when the Mug first opened, food was available for purchase. The space might be expanded to serve other roles besides a bar and dance club.

“[The Mug] needs a lot of work,” said Jackson. “With the upcoming Senior Class Gift, we thought there might be an opportunity to restore that space. We started thinking ‘what opportunities are there for that space?”

Jackson said that the space could be used for a number of recreational activities, such as the weekly Community Coffee House, which currently vies space in the College Center MPR.

Though the College has engaged in talks with Aramark, a decision has not been reached yet. “We’re just exploring ideas,” said Jackson.

However, the talks do come during a period of transition for the Mug. The bar, which used to serve hard alcohol, now only serves beer and white wine. According to Jackson, Ken Oldehoff, Director of Marketing Campus Dining and the Retreat, has stopped buying hard alcohol. The reasoning was that inventory and sales did not match up, and the College was losing money. Oldehoff was not available for comment.

In addition, the College has hired an Aramark employee to oversee management of the bar.

According to Jackson, the employee provides a set of “eyes and ears for collecting data” on Mug trends. She said this information will be useful in subsequent plans for the Mug’s renovation.

The Mug first opened in 1975. At the time the drinking age was 18 in New York State. This changed in 1985 when New York raised the drinking age to 21. At the time there were a number of proposals regarding the running of the Mug. One student even proposed to have alternate “wet and dry” nights, but the College eventually adopted the current bracelet identification system to distinguish between students who are of the legal drinking age from those who are not.

Aramark came to Vassar in 1989 to run the All College Dining Center (ACDC). In 1993, the company assumed responsibility for the Retreat and the running of the Mug.