Syracuse University students Xavier Celestin and Rafiel Warfield weredenied entrance to a College of Law first-year students’ ‘Bar Night’at 406 S. Clinton St.’s Fuel on Jan. 20, said Jenn Clark, studentsenator, chair of the Senate Affairs Committee and a second-year lawstudent.

The College of Law’s Student Senate will hold a town hall meetingtoday from 11:50 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and is opening it up to the entirecampus community to discuss the Fuel incident,

Both Celestin and Warfield could not be reached for comment Wednesday.However, after the incident, they went to the College of Law’s StudentSenate regarding the matter.

The College of Law’s first, second and third-year students organizesporadic ‘Bar Nights,’ for each of their classes at local bars, aboutone-third of each law school class attends these events.

In order to enter each of the ‘Bar Night’ venues, students must show two forms ofidentification, one that proves they are at least 21 years old and their SU ID. After that, they may enter the establishment, Clark said.

Celestin and Warfield, both black first-year students in the College of Law, attempted to enter Fuel at about midnight that night. Thebouncer who was working turned the two men away, stating they did not fit Fuel’s dress code, Clark said.

Clark said the two men then asked to see the dress code policy and the bouncer said Fuel didn’t have one, and that it was his discretion to let people into the bar.Dress code policies were hanging in the windows of Fuel and Bar, the adjacent bar to Fuel, on Wednesday night.

At one point, Celestin and Warfield asked to talk to the manager. When he came outside, they looked into the bar and saw other people, all white, wearing logos on their shirts, Clark said. Sean Taylor, a Fuelemployee who was working as the manager on Jan. 20. said he did not recall the incident.

‘Bouncers can turn away whoever they want and they justify it with this dress code,’ Clark said.

Taylor, who also works at Bar, said both bars have had numerous racial complaints related to the dress code. And the reason for the dress code is because patrons have complained about keeping higher standards for the type of people the bar attracts.

One of the men was wearing boots and the other was wearing a shirt with a Sean John logo on it – clothing that didn’t meet Fuel’s dress code according to the bouncer, Clark said

Taylor confirmed that such clothing did not meet the establsihments’ dress code.Taylor said he does not recall any law school students being denied entrance. When Fuel and Bar get crowded, the staff enforces the dress code policy more strictly.

Clark said she does not think dress codes at bars are a bad thing, especially in establishments where regular patrons go for drinks, but this is the second incident when black students have been turned awayfrom ‘Bar Night.’ The first occurred at another bar in Armory Square last semester, Clark said.

‘I’m not one to pull the race card … but when there is no justifiable reason why two men, who are dressed similar to everyone else, except everyone else is white, you have to,’ Clark said.

The manager of Fuel and Bar who was working Wednesday night, refused to comment.

Published on January 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm