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Opening a bar near a college campus gives you the opportunity to print money, but you also need to go to great lengths to prevent underage drinkers from infiltrating it. One establishment near Arizona State seemingly had some trouble doing that based on the outcome of a recent raid, and it dug a deeper hole for itself after peddling shirts that invoked 9/11 in response to the incident.
Arizona State used to have a reputation as one of the biggest party schools in America, but university president Michael Crowe is credited with taking plenty of steps to counter that narrative after he took over toward the start of the millennium.
With that said, the city of Tempe still boasts a very lively nightlife scene with the help of the more than 140,000 undergrads who attend ASU, and there are plenty of bars located near campus that are able to take advantage of the sizeable number of students who like to unwind by getting their drink on.
That includes Tempe Tavern, a dive located a short walk away from campus on Eastern Apache Boulevard that’s a bit more of a hike than the watering holes on Mill Avenue, the main drag at Arizona State, but still manages to attract plenty of thirsty students.
According to The State Press, it’s also become a bit of a haven for underage drinking when you consider a raid that was executed last Thursday led to the detention of 173 people who were under the age of 21 (including eight who ultimately ended up in jail) and gained access to Tempe Tavern with the slew of fake IDs that were seized.
Things took another turn on Friday when an image appeared on the bar’s Facebook page featuring a shirt emblazoned with the phrases “Our 911” and “#TavernStrong” along with a caption that erased any doubts it was a reference to the terrorist attacks that unfolded on September 11th, 2001.
As you can probably guess, that response didn’t go over too well, and the post was quickly deleted before the bar issued a statement blaming it on a “younger staff member” who presumably was not old enough to remember 9/11 happening while adding context to the raid in an attempt to explain how close to 200 underage drinkers were granted access.
While Tempe Tavern claims it was clear of any wrongdoing, 12News reports police are still conducting an investigation and could potentially take further action against the establishment.