It doesn’t matter what time of the school year it is or what day of the week, University students are always down to party and hit the bars.

Whether it’s Monday night Lion, Tuesday night Clys, or Thursday night Bros, it is expected that groups of friends will line up outside, ready to celebrate a hard day’s work or the end of a long week.

With long lines, people resort to cutting the line by sheer force or by knowing the doorman. However, a new, more official method exists for skipping a long wait: Bar Cards. 

Cochrane Premier Properties is a real estate company that offers not only housing for the University and the surrounding area, but also a “Bar Card” to its residents.

“The card let’s me skip the line of both Lion and Cly’s, but not out of cover. I try to make good use of it, but any time there’s a long line, the doormen make lame excuses to make the card invalid,” said Cameron Forst, senior in LAS.

Cochrane is the same company that owns Firehaus, The Red Lion and The Clybourne, so tenants can go to the front of the line with one friend at any of the bars. Card holders also get 10 percent off all food at Firehaus, according to the Cochrane Properties website.

Forst said the card works about half the time.

“When it has worked people have asked, ‘Why do you they get to skip the line?’ and others have tried following us in,” Forst said.

While he would recommend renting with Cochrane because of its properties, he wouldn’t let the card be a deciding factor.

“The card is just a bonus,” Forst said.

Bar Card or not, other students have mixed opinions on cutting the line.

Vianey Carrillo, junior in LAS, said she thinks she has cut the line at Brother’s only once, and after seeing how angry people were, she now tries to avoid it.

Despite having cut in the past, Carrillo said she doesn’t think it’s fair, especially if the line is about an hour-long wait.

“That’s what really gets me angry. They just kind of like barge in and they don’t really say excuse me because they don’t want to see you in the face because they’re cutting, obviously. Just don’t push me or don’t touch me … just do what you got to do. I’ll get there eventually, I guess, since you want to cut,” Carrillo said.

If she wanted to go out without waiting in line, she said she would just go early.

Matthew Horvitz, sophomore in ACES, said he doesn’t think line cutting is the biggest deal and is acceptable to a certain extent.

“I guess people who cut the line have a good reason to, like if they’re coming off of an exchange or something. I think the people who cut in the main line just try to be drunk idiots and just budge all these people, and they shouldn’t be able to do it. But if you’re on an exchange or with a worker or employee, then I think it’s OK,” he said.

He also said he observes line cutting all the time at The Red Lion.

“I’ve seen a ton of kids just power through the line and try to weave through. I mean, sometimes I say something and sometimes I don’t. It just like depends on the situation,” Horvitz said.

Diana Obniski, junior in LAS, agreed that line cutting is tolerable if it’s to meet someone because it doesn’t slow the line down.

“Usually when I cut and there is cover, I get out of it because I know the person,” Obniski said.

Juan Uribe, senior in AHS, has been working the door at The Clybourne since January.

“I think cutting in line at bars is annoying. People that were already waiting should have the right to go in before anyone who didn’t have to wait,” Uribe said. “I don’t think it’s acceptable even if you know someone. Unless you know everyone in line, don’t cut.”

Uribe said he witnesses people cutting almost every day at work, and if employees catch them, they have to go all the way to the back.

“If you want to be a cool person, don’t be annoying and cut the line,” Uribe said.

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