Several spaces on campus at the University of Dallas have been renovated since the summer of 2024, with the most recent being the renovation of the Rathskeller underground café, now called The Dumb Ox. After three months of construction and three TGITs elsewhere on campus, the Dumb Ox is open at last.
When asked how the plan came about, University of Dallas Executive Director for Facilities and Capital Projects Dr. Benjamin Gibbs said: “The university had an opportunity to renew its contract with its dining services provider, Aramark, and as part of the… contract renewal, we negotiated with Aramark capital investment in the university, which we then designated towards Haggar University Center.”
Aramark’s capital investment in the university was directed toward building renovations. The expansion of the Capp Bar and the construction of the Frassati’s food court in 2024 was the first phase of this business venture. The Dumb Ox project, which began in May and continued until the end of September of this year, was the second.
“President Sanford has discussed a ‘focus on prestigious enhancements,’ one of which was renovating the retail dining experience,” said the general manager of the University of Dallas dining services Casey Teng. “We also support and engage with the focus to ‘be the best Catholic university in the nation.’”
Regarding the theme chosen for the site’s redesign, Dr. Gibbs states that it seeks to honor the tradition of visiting Irish bars, an experience inherited from the UDallas Rome program.
“We had students who approached the administration, who expressed a strong desire to see an Irish pub on campus,” said Gibbs. “[The Rat] did not have a cohesive theme, and it didn’t have what the students seem to really want, which is kind of an Irish Pub type of theme… So we were really responding to students’ feedback, and trying to build a space that students wanted to use.”
The multidisciplinary architecture, design and planning practice MultiStudio proposed the ideas and items that, once approved by the Office of Student Life, achieved the desired goal. The expansion of the bar, the combination of pine green and dark brown colors, the coffers on the ceiling reminiscent of classical Roman architecture, the classic furniture, and the soft lighting were intended to give the place the look and feel of an Irish pub.
As for his personal satisfaction with the finally renovated space, Gibbs said, “My greatest hope is that the spaces at the University of Dallas are for the University of Dallas students, and so hopefully students see it as a place to be in community together… So ultimately, I think my satisfaction would be derived from the students being satisfied with it”
Although the space was already used by students before the renovation to hang out, study, watch sports games, listen to music and attend TGIT The University administration hopes that the satisfaction of the student body will increase now that The Dumb Ox is a more complete and special place for the community.
The University of Dallas’ goal is to take care of its students and keep them happy, but to achieve this, it also needs to take care of the campus.
“I think there’s sort of a continual desire to improve the spaces on campus so that as our community grows, as students live and learn and build friendships here, that they have a really good built environment to do that,” said Gibbs. “From my perspective, the goal is to create spaces of community where community can flourish.”
According to Gibbs, renovations are beneficial when they are done with the intention of helping the community grow, taking into account the traditions that belong to and give identity to that community. The Dumb Ox, with its name, honors St. Thomas Aquinas, whose works of theology and philosophy are a pillar of a UDallas education.
Fr. Jeronimo Espinosa gave a brief introduction during the opening of The Dumb Ox. He said, “[The place] is for the students, it’s meant for them to socialize.” The Grand Opening was accompanied by music from the sophomore band Three Minutes Late, and while some students listened, others ate and drank, talked with their friends and played pool. A wide variety of refreshments were served, including non-alcoholic Guinness and other mocktails like a faux gin and tonic.