Ruth Siegel Retrospective
Christyn Refuerzo ‘26 and Charlotte Shao ‘26
Photo of the Siegel Center under construction, taken by Charlotte Shao ‘26.
In Sept. 2023, Sarah Lawrence President Cristle Collins Judd announced that the Ruth Siegel Center, better known as the Pub, will be renovated into a brand new student space.
This has been an on-going project since 2019. After the Barbara Walters Campus Center opened, administration started reconsidering how they could use the Pub space now that the new dining and student spaces had opened. Although the pandemic put the plans on hold, SLC has partnered with DIGSAU, an architectural firm, to plan the renovations.
On Mar. 7, 2024, Campus Operations announced the beginning of construction, which would continue through the summer. The Pub will be the new home of many of SLC’s affinity spaces— Common Ground, the Spiritual Space, LGBTQIA space— as well as student kitchens and eating spaces, student lounges, and offices for staff of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office. SLC admin have cited the Pub’s central location on campus as one of the reasons for its repurposing.
As the Pub prepares for a new life as a more formal meeting place for students, the Phoenix decides to reflect on its past.
Back when Sarah Lawrence College was the estate of the Lawrences, the Pub was a simple gardener’s cottage at the other end of the arbor from Westlands. Over the years, it was used as an infirmary, a men’s dorm, and ultimately a student space. According to the Sarah Lawrence College website, it gained its nickname during the 1970s. The rumor is that it was called the Pub due to the fact that it would serve alcoholic beverages to students of age, but this is unconfirmed. It was known as “Charlie’s Place” to some students after the building was renamed to honor Charles DeCarlo, the seventh president of the college, but it was renamed once again in 1998 for Ruth Leff Siegel, a former trustee and lead donor.
During its time as a student space, the Pub was a lot more cozy. An article by The Phoenix from 2019 recounts that the Pub would serve breakfast and lunch to students.
SLC alumni Sofía Aguilar ‘21 recalled the warmth of the Pub as well. There were plenty of meetings with friends over breakfast sandwiches or chicken tenders, but there were also lots of new faces, surprising for such a small campus. People met for all kinds of things: clubs, homework study sessions, quick friendly hangouts, a good greasy meal.
“I would go as far to say that I grew up in the Pub,” Aguilar said. “I think we all did… It was such a warm environment, and I want people to remember that.”
Aguilar also mentioned that the school had floated many other ideas of what to do with the Pub, from simple renovations to turning it into a dorm to moving it to a new place on campus entirely. Each decision was met with resistance from students, who loved the Pub as it was.
The Pub closed in 2019 when the Barbara Walters Campus Center opened, and the college was planning to renovate it then. The Phoenix reported on a student senate meeting that revealed both the Pub and the Black Squirrel would close their dining functions to make room for the BWCC Dining Pavilion. The Phoenix also covered a potential floor plan that lines up with current plans for the space, namely the rehoming of the LGBTQIA space, the Spiritual Space, and Common Ground, as well as new offices. However, the pandemic caused the campus to close and plans to be put on hold. Most recently, the building was used by the Health and Wellness center as a COVID-19 testing space in 2020 and a flu-shot clinic in 2022.
Construction is slated to continue through spring and into summer. The reopening of the Pub is planned for the fall of 2024. Though the inside may be changing, the Pub will hopefully remain a place as warm as alumni like Aguilar remember it, and a place for new students to feel that warmth all the same.
If you’re interested in reading more about the Pub on The Phoenix, visit this piece from 2019 on the initial announcement’s redesign.