Staff Editorial | Vassar should prioritize full repairs to the Mug

Last week, Matthew’s Mug was closed due to sewage leaking from a blocked sanitation line. This is the second time this semester that the Mug has closed due to a problem with its piping. Since the space plays an important role as a social center for a large number of students, we believe that exhaustive repairs must be done in order to ensure that it will be open and operating for the rest of the semester and in the years to come.

Full renovations to the Mug are on the horizon, but clearly the space warrants more immediate attention. Last year, the Class of 2006 raised $9,304, which was augmented by the Vassar Club of Portland to make a total of $39,304 towards the renovation of the Mug as their gift to the College. Reconstruction was scheduled to start last summer but has not yet started.

According to Retreat Director of Marketing and Sustainability, Kenneth Oldehoff, who oversees the Mug, the reason for this delay has been the need to comprehensively assess what transformations are necessary. In the fall of 2006, Susan Sheehan (liaison to the Senior Class Gift Committee from the Office of Development) said that renovations would likely start in Summer 2007 (“Renovations to Matthew’s Mug on hold,” published in the 11.2.06 issue of The Miscellany News).

While it would be ideal for the Mug to be renovated to top condition in one fell swoop, it is more important that immediate work be done promptly to ensure that it continues to operate for the rest of the spring 2007 semester. Oldehoff said that the problem which led to sewage seeping into the Mug has been fixed and that the Mug will be open for business as usual. However, The Miscellany News would like to emphasize that the problem of raw sewage leaking into the Mug multiple times indicates that a concentrated effort must be devoted to improved maintenance of the Mug sooner rather than later.

Although there are certainly other buildings and spaces at the College that warrant improvement and renovation, the Mug should be one of the College’s priorities this semester. The role that the Mug plays in ensuring student safety on weekend nights makes it particularly important. Beyond themed dance nights sponsored by student organizations, the Mug provides a safe area for students of legal age to drink responsibly on campus.

While the existence of the Mug certainly does not ensure that students are not drinking underage in their rooms or traveling off campus to drink, it undoubtedly is a place where students who are under 21 can gather, and students over 21 can drink socially—without getting behind the wheel—and, if in trouble, can seek the help that they need from Security.

The Mug also serves as a venue for several other groups. Jazz Night, which was moved from the Mug to the Villard Room last week when the sewage leak started, is thriving, bringing weekly bands and drawing a large crowd of students on a regular basis. In addition, the Mug is now home to ViCE’s After Hours, a group that pairs performances by Vassar students with well-known singer-songwriters.

For these reasons, the College should prioritize repairs to the Mug. We are encouraged by the recent rhetoric of the College concerning the overdue renovations, but it is more important to fix the immediate problems. It is not enough to simply clean up the messes resulting from blocked pipes after the fact. The root cause of the recent sewage leaks in the Mug should be determined and addressed in order to ensure that sewage ceases to seep into the Mug.

The Staff Editorial represents at least a two-thirds majority of the 20-member Editorial Board.