The Hut enforces dress code for non-affiliates

By Liz O'Brien

The Hut, a bar frequented by students and located near the north side of campus, has recently announced the decision to enforce its dress code more strictly, said The Hut owner Doug Cookerly.

"We've always had the dress code," said Cookerly. "We're just enforcing it more."

The dress code prohibits sagging clothing, athletic apparel, bandanas, motorcycle club patches and tattoos on the face, neck or hands, among other things.

Cookerly said the reinforcement came at the request of Santa Clara police. However, Mike Sellers, a Santa Clara police spokesman, said there had been no direct request for a dress code enforcement from the police.

"The only person I know of that would know anything about that indicated that we had never made such a request," said Sellers.

When asked to clarify the discrepancy, Cookerly said, "They don't per se go, 'Hey, you need to enforce your dress code,' but they just tell us to kind of keep an eye on things."

Sellers also said that there have been no recent incidents that would have prompted such a request, and that the police department has never demanded a dress code from any bars or nightclubs in the area.

"We're trying to keep it a Santa Clara thing," Cookerly said. "There's a long history and tradition, and I've taken the effort, just like the owners before me, to look out for the SCU students because you know you have alumni who came here 20 years ago and they want it to be the same today."

Cookerly maintains that The Hut has always had a dress code, but that his employees will now be working harder to ensure that it is followed if need be.

"It's a tool for us to use to determine who we want to come into the bar," Cookerly said. "This has nothing to with age, race, anything like that. It's about the Santa Clara community."

Some students, however, feel differently.

"Call me crazy, but isn't that segregation?" said senior Katherine Berber. "That doesn't make sense to me."

"It seems unfair to assume across the board that someone's school correlates to how big of a risk they are," said senior Scott Klausner. "If it's true that they're just haphazardly kicking people out, then that's probably enough to get me to stop going there."

Two other popular student bars, C and J's and The Claran, both within a half mile of The Hut, have no dress code, nor have they had any reason to enforce one, according to The Claran bartender Kristen Kilby and a bartender at C and J's.

Flyers on The Hut's doors say the dress code only applies after 9 p.m. However, Cookerly said that employees can refuse service at any time.

The code does not apply to Santa Clara students.

"If someone comes in with shorts and flip-flops and a backwards hat and is a Santa Clara student, then there's absolutely no problem with that," said Cookerly.

The flyers read "Student ID Required" across the top, but Cookerly said it is only enforced when non-Santa Clara students the employees do not want to serve are seeking entry.

He specified it did not mean the bar is open only to Santa Clara students.

"What we're trying to do is establish that this is a bar for SCU. We have much respect for SCU and its students and alumni," Cookerly said. "We love them and want them to come here. We're not trying to cater to other crowds. "

Contact Liz O'Brien at (408) 554-4546 or eobrien@scu.edu.