The soundscape of the Depot is a chaotic mix of drunken chatter, sporadic piano playing in the distance and towers of aluminum Tecate cans falling off of tables followed by groans of amused disappointment.
Students gather in large groups for — what I’ve found to be — the best-priced beer in all of San Francisco. Tecate Tuesday, a weekly event hosted by The Pub, brings students to a head in a way that normal bars can’t. Unlike neighborhood dive bars and clubs with lines down the block, the space offers an environment for students to cut loose and meet their peers in an environment outside the classroom.
SFSU is a commuter school. Commuter schools, especially those without a football team like SFSU, struggle to cultivate a sense of school pride. The distance between students, and the lack of a common cause to root for, makes it hard for SFSU to create a sense of community.
Tecate Tuesday serves as a unique example of a way for students to socialize.
Many of the CSUs don’t have a bar on campus but rather are surrounded by a myriad of bars and restaurants that fulfill the young students’ desire for entertainment. However, SFSU itself remains comparatively distant from locations where students can exercise their right to live out the college experience.
Apart from the Pub, the campus and the area surrounding lack the social centers available within the proximity of other colleges. Other college towns that I’ve been to, such as San Luis Obispo, became college towns because they offer immediate access to social centers near the campus, where many students live. The Pub serves as this social center. By garnering a large crowd of students on Tuesdays, the pub is able to allow young adults to experience that traditional college life sought after by much of America’s youth.
San Francisco as a whole may offer more amenities than these other campuses, but miles away in other parts of the city making it hard to find other students randomly out in the wild. With access to the Pub on campus, students don’t need to.
Though the Pub’s early closing time limits the students’ access to social experience, it still gives them ample room to meet fellow students and make plans for the future. Without the allure of $2 beers, SFSU would lose a major part of its social ecosystem.
The social life aspect of college is a major reason why students go through the trouble of moving away from home and into a small dorm where they’re forced to share a room and learn how to be an adult on their own for the first time in their lives. The life and expenses of college itself would hardly feel worth it if not for the allure of the parties and nightlife often associated with getting a degree.
Online schooling is available and enables students to save money by living at home. Although SFSU is relatively affordable compared to other Bay Area schools like UC Berkeley and UCSF, it does not offer such a prestigious education that students would choose to pay to live here without factoring in the appeal of the city.
Detached without immediate access to these social centers, SFSU gives students less access to this experience. The Pub allows them to scratch this itch, and the crowd that garners gives students the space they need to meet future friends, work partners, and romantic partners without the looming stress of an expensive Uber or lengthy train ride.