Kaiden Chandler
Moonies and Lot 10 are two of the bars that Ithaca College students frequent. These bars have a responsibility to keep its student attendees safe
Student bars make up nightlife culture in almost every college town. Friday and Saturday nights are spent listening to music and dancing, with friends and strangers alike.
Moonies Bar and Nightclub, or just “Moonies” to many, has long been a staple for Ithaca College students looking to party. Lot 10 originally opened in 2012, changed owners in 2019, and reopened in 2024 under new management, adding another option for students to spend their weekend nights.
A big part of college culture is underage drinking, with many students choosing to do so at these bars. Student bars need to promote and follow safe and legal practices. They have an obligation to keep these students safe, which means things like monitoring over drinking, ensuring students are getting back to campus safely and overall encouraging safe drinking habits.
One long-standing tradition for IC students is to write their name on the walls of the bathroom in Moonies when they graduate. The bathrooms in the nightclub hold generations of IC students, all in one place.
Students who are going out can look at the walls and see all of the students who came before them; it creates a camaraderie in students, connecting cohorts across years.
Many students look forward to the day when they get their name on the bathroom wall, forever memorialized with their friends, teammates and peers who came before them. Though with the insurgence of students’ love for Lot 10, it may be a dying dream.
The steady shift of IC students from Moonies to Lot 10 represents more than just a change in nightlife — it signals the erosion of a student-centered space that anchored social rituals, traditions and peer networks around campus.
Students and the owners of these local bars need to act to preserve this long-standing student culture through safe, legal and inclusive means.