Woodhall’s ‘rants’ won’t help fix Clark Hall Pub
Re: “Clark report ‘inadequate’” (Journal, Jan. 15, 2008)
Dear Editors,
I wonder if it will take anything less than the impending graduation of Tom Woodhall for The Journal to take away his platform. Too often is Mr. Woodhall allowed to shout down his grandiose statements and doomsday predictions, which only add to the tired myth of his infallible opinion and experience. In his latest tirade against the closure of Clark Hall Pub, he’s quick to condemn the inadequacies of EngSoc’s development strategy, but again fails to admit the fundamental flaws of his former organization.
The fact of the matter is that Clark Hall Pub was not a sustainable system. The pub’s liquor licence holder, Bruce Griffiths, went on record with his concerns about the looming possibility of liquor licence violations. The financial records and practices were so incomplete and suspect that even a professional accounting firm could not complete its financial audit. Recently enacted provincial bill 159 sets new regulations for all security practitioners, and would have introduced unavoidable financial burden to the pub’s already-strained operations, as well as rendered its SciCons’ lax and hands-on policies even more illegal. Instead of conceding that any of these points warrant closer scrutiny, Mr. Woodhall clings to a smaller perspective, kicking and screaming like a child being dragged out from his clubhouse.
Closing and re-opening the pub hardly marks a doomed surrender to the AMS or University administration. The AMS’s permanent staff members, who aid us in the operations of our services, in no way limit their student feel. Rather, they guide us as we learn so that the ownership we take for our work is a responsible one. The Queen’s Student Constables service is also not the villain that Mr. Woodhall describes. We’re managed and staffed entirely by students, and give equal work opportunity to all faculties and disciplines—including Applied Science. It seems odd that Mr. Woodhall so eagerly condemns these proposals, which so closely match the very principles he advocates, while making the pub more accountable and inclusive.
In taking the time to stop and review its operations, EngSoc has done far more to create a sustainable Clark Hall Pub than any of Mr. Woodhall’s conservative rants. So please, until you have something constructive to add—that’s enough, Mr. Woodhall.
Dan Whalen, ArtSci ’07
Head Manager and Chief Constable
Queen’s Student Constables
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