The Seagrape epitomizes the social scene of Fairfield’s college students, and the staff is fully aware of this fact. It is no secret that the Grape is cherished and frequented by every senior at Fairfield. Year after year, alumni rave to incoming seniors that their fondest memories of senior year were at the Grape.
Whoever decided to open a bar directly across from Lantern Point was a genius, because no matter how awful the staff treats the students, no matter how long it takes to wait for a drink, no matter how ridiculously disgusting the bathrooms are, students will not choose risking their lives over having a good time. It just doesn’t make sense.
No college student wants to lose his or her license as a result of a DUI. Worse yet, no college student wants to risk his or her life in a car with a drunk driver. Seniors are fortunate to have the Grape, which is walking distance from practically all student beach houses. Convenience and camaraderie are the bar’s high points.
However, the staff has gone too far and challenged the students’ opinion of the highly esteemed establishment. When you cannot erase the memory of your best friend being locked in a choke hold and thrown out for doing nothing wrong, something needs to be said.
I would like to know, what did Fairfield students ever do to the Grape, besides bring massive amounts of business into the bar, put the Grape, and, as a result, the Fairfield Inn on the map, and give free advertisement by word of mouth? Moreover, there is nothing the student patrons did to warrant the horrible mistreatment I witnessed Saturday evening.
While I casually stood drinking a completely full drink after closing time, I watched my friend get physically abused and thrown outside the bar because he apparently was not obeying the bouncers when they said it was closing time. I was not asked to leave, although I remained drinking in the bar. And I was certainly not put in a choke hold. The bouncer blatantly chose to pick on him, for whatever reason, because of whatever high horse he’s riding.
Previously that same evening, other male patrons were violently thrown out of the bar. I don’t know the reason, but, in the small crowd of 30 students, I saw no altercations that warranted being kicked onto the street outside the bar.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that students will never stop going to the Grape. It is just too convenient; it saves us a ticket if we shut down our parties at 11 p.m. and go to the bar. Fairfield students have done nothing but endorse and promote the bar because we get to enjoy a good time close to home.
Consequently, our business has put staff members on a power trip, a power trip where loyal patrons are treated like insolent buffoons in spite of their innocence. This power is what deters students from speaking up about such incidents, for fear that they could be recognized at the door and not let inside. For years, incidents similar to Saturday’s have been brushed aside; it’s a hassle to make a formal complaint, and who would believe a student who was under the influence anyway?
There is no reason for the Grape staff to put a client in a choke hold when they would have calmly left, if kindly asked. Surely, there are students who drink too much, act like fools and abuse the 21-year-old privilege of alcohol consumption. However, the problem is not always with the misbehavior and attitude of a select group of students; it is also with the staff.
This problem needs to be addressed because the unfair treatment of innocent patrons is completely unacceptable.
As Fairfield police officers, the University’s student conduct policies and bouncers at college bars castigate belligerent students for their unacceptable behavior, the Grape staff must also be held accountable for their actions.
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