Just like you, we are wondering why there are not enough nightlife options on the Presbyterian College (PC) campus and the surrounding area. We started by interviewing the owner, Charlie Michaels, of the only bar in town called The Lumberyard, where he gave us more insight into the nightlife in town. We also interviewed Max Monroe, a senior at PC and a bartender at the Lumberyard, and Zeb Stroup, a junior at PC and an active member on campus. Hearing from all three perspectives gave us a better look into what nightlife is like on and off campus.

The Lumberyard will have been in the town of Clinton for two years in March. Michaels tells us that there aren’t many places to go besides restaurants in Clinton. Not only that but most places in Clinton shut down around 9 pm. We asked Michaels about his typical clientele, which is PC facility, PC students, and the PC community, which he mentioned being divided by the side of the train tracks. To see what events brought in the most people at the Lumberyard we asked Michaels, “What is your most popular event?” His response was the following, “Karaoke and line dancing.” This has brought in great crowds for the Lumberyard and has made the Lumberyard more popular with its clientele.  Michaels also mentioned that Fridays were the busiest night of the week.

We had thought that the idea of bar hopping and having multiple areas in Clinton’s downtown area would potentially lead to more business and a more popular nightlife experience. However, when asking Michaels, he said this would not be the case; that it would not be beneficial and that bar hopping was actually something he was scared of. This is because as an owner liability is something to consider. South Carolina law has a $1,000,000 liquor liability if you bar hop and someone gets hurt all of the places that person drank at can be sued.

We also asked, “Do you think bringing in another bar will encourage more people to go out?” The answer was, “No because the bar business is based on rooftops (as in the number of buildings and houses) and it’s not growing, if there were more people in Clinton then there would be more bars.” 

Not only did we interview the owner of the Lumberyard, but we also interviewed Max Monroe, who is a PC student and a bartender at the Lumberyard. Monroe’s general thoughts on the nightlife in Clinton were, “There aren’t enough options for students in general, let alone those over 21. Clinton’s nightlife energy feeds off PC nightlife energy, and vice versa.” Monroe finds that students are frustrated with the lack of options for nightlife which is very visible with the app Yik Yak, a way for students to connect and anonymously post their thoughts and opinions online. He says, “I think part of the problem is too many people complaining instead of finding solutions.”

Just like Michaels, we asked Monroe about his thoughts on adding another bar to Clinton. Monroe said, “I think a bar aimed at the over-21 population of PC would compete. However, the lack of students at the school is a problem.” While considering the bar scene in Clinton, we were also curious about the nightlife on campus. We asked Monroe, “Are the fraternity houses on campus a good option?” His response was, “Attendance at the houses gets worse every year. I feel a lot of it has to do with the school’s involvement, or what a lot of people feel is over-involvement. Another reason is just due to the decrease in Greek Life participation at the school as a whole.”

To gain a better understanding of how PC Students feel about the nightlife, we interviewed Zeb Stroup, a member of the PC football team and the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Upon asking Zeb what he thought about the nightlife in Clinton he said, “As a junior nightlife has steadily declined every year that I’ve been here and is no longer fun.” Diving into the reasoning behind that, he stated, “The over-involvement of campus service and police and the nit-picky rules they enforce deter a lot of us.”  Presbyterian College requires that every student checks in when they go out to fraternity court. Along with checking in, students have their IDs, both student and government, and bags checked by campus security to ensure that they are following the rules. The school requires no glass bottles of any nature, no liquor, and no more than six beers per over-age student. These rules are in place to ensure everyone’s safety on campus, but Zeb believes that to improve the school’s nightlife it needs to, “Promote the on-campus events more publicly; and lessen hands-on involvement with the nightlife.” While there is a viable off-campus option, the majority of the student body would like to see on-campus events improve.

In conclusion to this interview, we determined that students at PC have a desire to increase the nightlife but the reasons for PC and the surrounding areas’ low volume of nightlife is due to the small population of Clinton, the small school size, and over-involvement of campus police at the fraternity court. There aren’t enough people to expand the nightlife or add significance to it at PC. There are also a lot of legal and liability issues involved in adding a second bar to the town of Clinton which they would not be able to properly handle or by limiting campus police. Although there is a desire to improve the overall nightlife for students the best way to address this is to have a change in perspective and encourage students to appreciate what there is and recognize with such a small population there isn’t much else that can be added.