No letters to the editor. No flood of mail to aldermen. No student speakers to appeal to the Evanston City Council before the final decision.

But Associated Student Government President Patrick Keenan-Devlin wasn’t worried. He was certain the proposed ordinance banning people under 21 from bars after midnight would fail.

But it passed. Seven to one.

“The vote changed before my eyes,” the Music senior said. “I honestly believed this was going to be defeated. (But) we didn’t have the votes we thought we did. Nobody thought it would ever happen.”

As Evanston Police Chief Frank Kaminski stood up to speak in favor of the ordinance at the City Council meeting, Keenan-Devlin said he began to notice something different in the aldermen’s attitudes.

Keenan-Devlin said his conversations with and observation of the aldermen led him to believe the ordinance would fail. Two weeks ago, it might have.

Both Alds. Cheryl Wollin (1st) and Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th), who represent the two wards that contain Northwestern, said comments from the police helped them make their decisions.

Reassurance from the police at and before the meeting that the ordinance is enforceable persuaded Tisdahl to change her vote, she said.

Wollin said local substance abuse prevention organizations also contributed to her decision, particularly their arguments about how the ordinance would prevent high schoolers from entering bars.

Keenan-Devlin said he thinks the council made the wrong decision. But he said he hopes Wollin and Tisdahl will help with suggested amendments.

In response to the ordinance’s passage, ASG met with student group leaders Wednesday night to discuss how to preserve Monday’s bar nights student groups use to raise funds. Representatives from ASG, Dance Marathon, the Interfraternity Council, the Residence Hall Association and the Center for Student Involvement attended.

The group identified three strategies to pursue and joked about a Martin Luther King Jr.-style sit-in.

The representatives decided their priority is an amendment to allow student groups permits to hold bar nights. Keenan-Devlin said ASG hopes to have a draft ready for review at the group’s next meeting Oct. 20.

The group emphasized the need to get an amendment passed quickly so that the new ordinance does not become the status quo.

Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) suggested such an addition at the council meeting. Wollin and Tisdahl said they would support the amendment if there weren’t too many bar nights.

“Twice a week was just more than most aldermen could envision charity work,” Wollin said. “Then we’re talking about a different type of activity. “

Student groups must solicit approval from NU to host a bar night. During the past three school years, NU has approved an average of 33 to 35 contracts a year, according to ASG records. Most of those are for one bar night, but Dance Marathon’s contract covers all of the organization’s events at bars.

Since the 2002-03 school year, groups have increased use of bar nights. Last year, 19 student organizations held bar nights, almost double the number that held them in the previous two years.

“It suggests more groups are relying on bar nights to raise money,” ASG Executive Vice President Jay Schumacher said. “So taking it away, it’s just bad.”

Meanwhile, CSI’s director Helen Wood said, student groups must try holding bar nights earlier in the night. Student leaders said this could mean bar nights become pre-parties and fundraisers move off-campus, issues they said the aldermen did not take seriously.

“It’s back to off-campus fundraising,” said Kate Nestler, vice president of RHA. “They’re going to be, ‘$5 cup, there’s a keg in the back.'”

IFC Risk Management Chairman Eric Metelka said when he brought up the problem of parties moving off-campus to where there is less supervision, aldermen appeared to take his point as a threat instead of a concern.

Metelka said he will help gather statistics on changes in off- and on-campus drinking incidents and in bar revenues.

The group also wants students to respond.

“Maybe it takes the first raid when everybody gets kicked out for students to get involved,” Metelka said.

Reach Elizabeth Gibson at [email protected].