Image courtesy of Amanda Sanders.
Usually the first floor of the Crozier Williams building is almost empty on a Thursday night after the hustle and bustle of the day. Not on April 14. At 8:30 PM there was a line of excited students that stretched back all the way back to the stairs in Cro. Dean of Students Victor Arcelus walked by, checking out the herd. Students dressed for a night out chatted amiably under fluorescent lights with unidentifiable cans in hand. Humphrey’s Bar, the on-campus bar opened in 2014, would soon open its doors for the first time since March of 2020.
Between 9 PM and 1 AM, students who were 21 and older filtered in and out of the space, fighting for access to a booth or playing pool in the back. At the front, employees in Dining Services checked IDs and stamped hands to ensure that no one under 21 would enter the bar. Student bartenders poured pitchers, counted cash, and cleaned tables as the night progressed. The bar offered students the choice between beer, cider, wine, and hard seltzers. Prices ranged from $2 for a pint of beer to $13 for a carafe of wine. Humphrey’s is cash only however, forcing students to wait in line at the ATM in Cro for cash. That didn’t stop them, however, from ordering pitcher after pitcher, until Humphreys ran out of cider.
Humphrey’s reopening seemed to be something of metaphorical victory just as much as a literal one. After years of students’ social lives being compromised and restricted both on and off campus, one of Conn’s social staples opening its doors again came as something of a commemorative marker. At the end of another year that both felt the impact of the pandemic, but also has in part been defined by the loosening of school wide restrictions, our beloved campus bar welcoming us back felt in some ways like a “thank you” and “congratulations.”
“I had a wonderful time at the bar; it’s super convenient location-wise and you can’t beat a $7 pitcher of PBR. I got to see friends who don’t normally go to other bars in New London, my poor pool skills got to shine. A downside is that it got ridiculously hot and steamy,” said Enso Tran ՚22.
Despite the heat, maskless students packed the small space, enjoying a semblance of pre-Covid normality in a room that had been closed off since the world spun off its axis. “It’s great to hang out in a chill environment on campus in a communal space… I feel kind of nostalgic even though it’s my first time here,” said Samirah Jaigirdar ՚22.
The bar, operated by Dining Services, had hoped to open in the fall, before the Covid-19 outbreak of early September where over 200 students had tested positive for the virus and forced the College into a state of lockdown. “The opening date kept getting pushed back,” said Diana Kim ՚22, one of the student bartenders. Ingrid Bushwack, Director of Dining Services, did not respond to requests for a comment.
“Overall, I do enjoy working there but I will say I wish there was some more formal training beyond the two hours of training I got,” Kim shared. The three bartenders that night were continuously pouring pitchers and moving from table to table as more and more students ordered drinks. A jar for tips stood on the bar. Did it end up getting filled? Kim laughed. “People are tipping, it’s great! I was very grateful, keep tipping please.”
Humphrey’s will be open throughout the rest of the semester on Thursday nights. “We’re thinking about doing theme nights, reach out to us with ideas on Instagram,” Kim concluded. See you there!
