Despite an incident with a fire extinguisher that brought last Thursday's Senior Pub Night event to a premature end, future pub night events will remain unaffected.
Ned Devine's, a bar in downtown Boston and the site of the final Pub Night event of the semester before Senior Week, was forced to evacuate event attendees after a fire extinguisher was discharged inside the bar. The venue did not reopen after the incident, cutting the event two hours short. Senior Week events, however, which include additional Pub Nights, will go on as planned, according to the Office for Campus Life (OCL), which helps coordinate Senior Pub Night events.
Buses returned attendees to the Hill immediately following the incident Thursday. The event cost $10 to attend, but because that money is primarily used for transporting attendees to and from the bar, no refunds were issued, according to Senior Class Council President Lindsey Rosenbluth.
Numerous eyewitnesses implicated a Tufts senior in the discharge of the fire extinguisher, according to OCL Assistant Director David McGraw. That person's name was passed on to the Judicial Affairs office, McGraw said.
Several sources declined to comment on the identity of the senior or the status of the judicial process, citing its ongoing nature.
McGraw said that he had over the past week spoken with representatives from Ned Devine's regarding the incident.
"They wanted to express that they don't hold it against Tufts or the class," McGraw said yesterday. "They recognized that it was an isolated incident caused by one individual."
OCL Director Joe Golia agreed. "The bar was not happy with what happened, but they understand that things happen," he said. He added that the bar could not open the following day until a fire marshal had inspected the premises and authorized them to do so.
Ned Devine's has asked that Tufts pay the cost of refilling the fire extinguisher used in the incident, Golia said.
"We will be hoping to get that from the student who we believe did this," he said.
The bar has said Tufts may be allowed to return in the future for more Pub Nights, according to Golia.
Senior Week events, which take place in the week before graduation and include Pub Nights similar to those held throughout the semester, will not be curtailed or otherwise affected in the aftermath of the incident.
"Nothing during senior week is being canceled, so there aren't repercussions that the class as a whole will have to bear," Rosenbluth said. "We're looking out for the entire senior class."
According to Rosenbluth, the outcome of the judicial process, not the OCL or Senior Class Council, will determine whether or not the student implicated will be allowed to attend those events.
Both students and administrators voiced disappointment with Thursday's abrupt conclusion.
From an event coordinator's perspective, Thursday was just as disastrous, Rosenbluth said. "People were angry that the event was closed early," she said. "But it was just as frustrating for us as it was for everyone inside."
"From our office, we were quite disappointed the way the night ended," McGraw said. "All of [the Senior Pub Nights] had been going quite successfully."
"It was an unfortunate situation that was pretty clearly caused by one student based on all the available evidence," Golia said.
A representative from the Briar Group LLC, which owns Ned Devine's, could not be reached in time for comment.
