Legal problems continue to mount for the Kollege Klub.
A campus-area bar with a sordid past dotted with clashes with police, the Kollege Klub has once again fallen out of favor with Madison city officials and faces losing its liquor license.
In the aftermath of a February police raid of the Kollege Klub, where police found more than a dozen underagers inside the bar, the Madison city attorney’s office has filed a lawsuit against Bruce Meier, the Kollege Klub’s owner, summoning him to appear in front of the Alcohol License Review Committee. Possible ramifications for the Kollege Klub include a suspension of three to six weeks and license revocation.
The Madison Police Department suspected the Kollege Klub’s regular clientele was largely underage, based on the hordes of customers seen exiting during routine bar checks, according to the complaint filed by Madison Police Sgt. Emil Quast, who estimated the portion of underagers inside the Kollege Klub at 25 to 30 percent.
Entering the Kollege Klub at just after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, a police force consisting of 10 officers approached numerous patrons appearing to be younger than 21 years old, of which 17 admitted to being underage and received citations.
Police also confiscated 15 fake IDs, which Quast describes as “varying in quality, from good to very poor.”
Stephanie Atwell, a UW student, recalled getting into the KK as a 16-year-old visiting her sister.
“My sister graduated in 2001, and [when] visiting her, I got into the KK with some sort of fake ID she gave me,” she sad. “The fake must have been terrible.”
Atwell also said many friends of hers have gained entrance to the Kollege Klub with blatantly false IDs.
“My friend, a white girl, once got in with a black man’s ID,” Atwell said. “There are always underagers in there. It’s the underage bar. It’s where you go when you are a freshman, because you can’t get in anywhere else.”
Atwell is confident the police raided the Kollege Klub on a Wednesday because of its notoriety as “beer and shot” night, where customers receive a beer and a shot of alcohol for a discounted price.
Ald. Tim Bruer, District-14, chair of the ALRC, said he is not surprised the Kollege Klub is again facing allegations of wrongdoing.
“For years, the KK has struggled with a number of issues associated with alcohol violations,” Bruer said. “Given problems of [the] past track record, I think the prosecutor might recommend long-term suspension or revocation of the license.”
University of Wisconsin student Melanie Black said she has been to the Kollege Klub with underage friends allowed into the bar after showing bouncers fake IDs but said she believes the city is too aggressive in its efforts to clamp down on underage presence in bars.
“I don’t think police should be targeting the bars anyways,” she said.
Bruce Meier, owner of the Kollege Klub, could not be reached for comment Monday. A Kollege Klub manager declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
The Kollege Klub has accumulated over 200 points of liquor-license violations during its tenure, according to the complaint.
