Megan Tuennerman
A&E Editor
The College of Wooster is unique in many ways: we wear kilts, hear bagpipes in our dreams, have a reverence and/or deep hatred for the squirrels on campus and have an on-campus bar. While areas like the Underground may be more common at big schools, Wooster is one of the only small liberal arts schools to be a “wet” campus (regarding alcohol policy on campus) and to have an on-campus bar. The Underground is an important aspect of the campus community as it provides a place not only for students to relax and dance on the weekends, but also a place for community events throughout the week. Korri Palmer ’20, who works at the Underground, said that “it makes me happy that we have consistent customers and such a creative and fun team that comes up with all of our events.” So, how did Wooster get this unique area on campus?
To answer that question we must go back to 1973. John Kneen ’74 was a junior on campus and frustrated by the fact that there was no place for a campus-wide hangout. There was no place on campus for students to dance, drink and have fun on the weekends. It is important to note that at the time, beers with 3.2 percent alcohol content were legal for people 18 years and older, so virtually all college-aged students could legally consume alcohol off campus. This meant that students were forced to go off campus to local bars, which meant not only that students would occasionally get mixed up in unfortunate fights with locals, but also that drinking and driving was a much more prevalent issue. Kneen was worried about his friends and classmates, and worked to found The Cage.
As the Student Government Association (SGA) and Campus Council president, Kneen was able to gather friends and come up with a strategic plan to take to the Board of Trustees about the idea of making Wooster a “wet” campus in order to allow for an on-campus bar. “A few of my friends and I took the idea to the Board of Trustees; we had it laid out in a strategic plan highlighting the ways that this could work,” said Kneen. The Board of Trustees did in fact approve of the idea, but wanted a test run. “They gave us two weekends for a test run. The space that they gave us was in the basement of Severance Hall (which used to be a gym) and the windows had wire over them — which is where the name the Cage came from,” explained Kneen. The test run went fantastic, with students enjoying the space and members of the administration visiting to note the ways that the students appreciated the space. According to the Nov. 11, 1973 edition of the Voice, “the organizers considered ‘The Cage’ a success, with approximately 600 people attending each night, June 1 and 2, 1973.”
Since the test run was a success, the Board of Trustees allowed The Cage to continue on a more permanent basis, but the location in Severance was not feasible for such a space. The criteria for the permanent space to hold The Cage were that it have a “pub-like atmosphere located in an area where the noise will not bother the surrounding College and Wooster community … be accessible to students … and have a minimum capacity of 300 persons,” according to the Voice article listed above. The place that met all of the criteria for the bar is the very same place that the Underground still exists today, beneath Kittredge Dining Hall. The space had been used for extra storage before, and the dining hall was willing to move the supplies elsewhere. After decorating the space “with old wood from barns that were falling down” said Kneen, adding, “Don’t worry, we asked if we could have the wood first.” The Cage was open for business.
The idea for the bar was for it to be more than just a bar on weekends. “We wanted it to be a place for the campus community to use in whatever way it was deemed neecessary,” said Kneen, and he was happy to hear the the Underground still serves the same function today. Through name changes (after it was named The Cage, it was titled “Ichabod’s,” and now it is the beloved Undergound), financial struggles and a lot of work, The Cage still serves as a symbol of the power of change that students can have on our campus and of the importance of our community.