Another possibility would bring wine from Harvard’s own vineyard in Italy to tempt the tastebuds of Loker pub-goers.

Corker says plans are in the works to incorporate weekly programming including karaoke, trivia, DJ nights, football game hangouts, and spoken word events.

“We want to get people excited for more than just food and drinks at the pub,” Corker says. “We want to have events that people look forward to and an environment that’s fun.”

The administration considers it vital that the pub be run primarily by the people it is meant to serve, probably through a system of student employees and professional management.

“We want the face of the pub to be students,” he says.

A Pub Commission, comprised of 15 students, was formed last spring to assist Corker in brainstorming ways to improve the monthly Pub Nights this year and to help formulate a clearer vision of the permanent pub.

Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) will also be forming a new Business Development Pub Task Force to facilitate the pub planning process.

Last spring, Corker held lunches with students to discuss their ideas and also held open discussions in the houses.

Campus Life Fellow Justin H. Haan ’05 and Corker will also begin holding office hours once a week for students to come in with questions and ideas.

Corker also says that HSA and Veritas Records will take a leading role in planning events next year’s pub events.

But Do You Love It?

The real question on both administrators’ and students’ minds is whether or not this new pub will be popular. Getting students excited about pub nights wasn’t easy at first, says Corker, citing the difficulties of hosting the events in the notoriously-humdrum Loker Commons.

One goal for the future of Harvard spirit is to “trick the freshmen” into considering Loker a standard social option, Haan says. “Then it sort of just sticks,” he says.

“Freshmen are a wonderful group to work with... they’re coming in excited to have a fresh start, to embrace their new college... we should build on that optimism and energy,” says Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman.

Many pub discussion attendees emphasized that the pub needs to be both convenient and cool.