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SOU students plan nightclub photo by Bob Pennell By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � Southern Oregon University�s campus arcade hadn�t been pulling many quarters out of students� pockets lately. So student organizers this summer are moving out the pinball, hanging onto the pool tables and making room for a sort of juice-bar-meets-nightclub in the Stevenson Union basement. "We�re trying to provide an alternative to the parties, the bars," says senior Ryan Wines. "An alternative to using drugs and alcohol, basically." The nightclub, set to open in September, will provide students with a safe, no-alcohol environment, says Wines, who will manage the facility. He�s working this summer to remodel the old games room into a hip campus hotspot. "There�s not going to be any alcohol and sometimes you have that mentality �no alcohol, no fun,� " Wines says. "But I think we have a lot to offer and it�s going to be fun." By fall, Wines says, the large open room will be transformed into something of a cross between a dance club, pool hall, coffee shop and juice bar. To keep it cool, the club will be open just twice a week, probably Thursdays and Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Since there won�t be any beer or booze, the club will be open to underage students. But it will NOT, Wines emphasizes, become a teen hangout. "You have to be an SOU student or a guest of a student to come in," Wines says. "We definitely don�t want it to be a high school establishment." That�s exactly what the games room had become in recent years. Students from Ashland High School often flood into the college student union during the lunch hour, leaving behind litter so frequently that they�ve sometimes been suspended for weeks at a time. Still, Wines says, the high-schoolers have been about the only students to make use of the room recently. "I�ve managed that place down there for one-and-a-half years and it�s never been popular," Wines says. "It may have been successful at one point, but it doesn�t work now." Though he can�t remember whose class it was, Wines credits one of the university�s freshman CORE classes for dreaming up the nightclub proposal about two years ago. That�s when SOU began an unofficial campaign to sober up its student body. In October 1998, an 18-year-old freshman who had been drinking fell three stories from a dormitory window ledge and suffered serious head injuries. Since then, SOU officials have been working to quash the Greensprings complex�s reputation as a party dorm. It now houses only underage students � separating the under-21 crowd from drinking-age students who are allowed to drink in their own rooms. The incident also prompted university officials � students and administrators � to re-examine campus drinking policies, beef up alcohol education programs and look for ways to offer more alcohol-free activities. "About 22 percent of our students live on campus and we are constantly trying to think of ways to enrich their time here," says Ron Bolstad, dean of administration and finance. Last year, the university extended hours at the campus gymnasium. Opening the nightclub is in that same vein, Bolstad says. "It falls within one of our goals, which is to provide more activities on campus," he says. The campus nightclub, Wines says, is being financed through student fees. He hopes it can become self-supporting within two terms. In the meantime, he hopes community members will pitch in with donations of furniture and decorations. The club�s wish list includes restaurant booths, couches, loveseats and easy chairs, Wines says. He also hopes for floor lamps, coffee tables, end tables, mirrors of all shapes and sizes and large, framed artwork for the walls. "A venture like this is very expensive, especially if you want to compete with bars," Wines says. "We want to make it look like you�re somewhere else. "Students don�t want to feel like they�re dancing in the cafeteria." Anyone who would like to make a donation to the student nightclub can call Ryan Wines at 552-6655. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA