Spring Break
Staff Editorial: A rebirth for E-Level
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With a new name and a fresh start, on Saturday night, the HopStop (formerly known as Levering Lounge and E-Level) managed to draw nearly 800 students from the fraternity houses, local bars, and library. The StuCo-sponsored party at the HopStop brought an end to a long drought of alcohol being served in Levering.
What surprisingly turned out to be a well-organized event changed many students' impressions of StuCo. After nearly two years marked by a constitutional crisis and election fraud, StuCo has started off this year right.
It wasn't the name change that brought students in to the HopStop -- it was the alcohol. Saturday night proved to be such a success for StuCo that the bar ran out of beer around midnight. Many students barely noticed as StuCo and the outside contractor rushed to restock the bar.
With one successful event already completed, StuCo President Atin Agarwal has shown that he, with the support of other StuCo members, can improve StuCo's heavily tarnished image.
StuCo and other student organizations should take the success of this first event to begin plans on similar sponsored events that provide students 21 and over with a safe drinking environment where their younger friends can also be present.
However, if future events using outside contractors are to be held at the HopStop, the University must ensure a strict enforcement of the Baltimore Liquor Board's regulations. Students and the University must not jeopardize the possibility of hosting more events by making it easy for underage students to drink.
A raid conducted by the Baltimore Liquor Board in September of 1999 led officials to find two underage students drinking in E-Level.
Following that raid, the university scaled back E-Level from a full service bar to what they hoped would be a student union. A student union never developed. With additional events at the HopStop where the University can responsibly monitor events, the University may finally see Levering become a hub for student social activity on campus.
