Students gathered Wednesday on Cohen Lawn for a community celebration with free refreshments and live music.

Just upstairs, a who’s who of University leadership congregated on the rooftop of Luna’s Pub & Grill, including Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris, interim President Henry Bienen and President Emeritus Michael Schill. 

Vice President for Student Affairs Susan Davis told The Daily nearly all of the funding for recent Norris University Center renovations, from Luna’s Pub to Cohen Lawn, came from donors. 

Trustee Frank Cohen (Weinberg ’95), the space’s namesake along with his wife Julie Cohen, said supporting areas of the University beyond academics helps facilitate student skills and relationships outside the classroom.

“We’ve invested a little bit in community, but probably not quite enough,” he said. 

Wednesday’s entertainment, which consisted of the Jesse White Tumblers acrobatic team, student band Rain Check and Chicago-based band Ring of Music, were far from the first to make use of Kahn Pavilion and the space nearby.

Student groups like the Undergraduate International Students Advancement Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council have hosted performances and events on Cohen Lawn throughout Spring Quarter. 

Some students, like SESP sophomore Bella Arabadjiev, also frequent Kahn Plaza as a hangout space. 

“I’m out here all the time,” Arabadjiev said. “It’s a really great place to just chill when the sun is out and get work done while being outside.”

Communication senior Maggie Munday Odom’s memories of the space date back to April 2024. She told attendees about watching the Great North American Eclipse, which briefly painted the continent in darkness, with other students on the lawn. 

Even Bienen enjoyed a meal with his wife, Pritzker Prof. Emerita Leigh Buchanan Bienen, on Cohen Lawn back in April, he told the rooftop crowd. 

“I sat out there and froze for about an hour,” Bienen said, drawing laughs from the audience. “But it’s a fantastic space.” 

Davis said the Norris renovations were initially envisioned on a smaller scale, and outdoor programming was intended to be seasonal. Cohen credited Schill with insisting on a year-round space, as well as the bar in Luna’s Pub. 

Trustee Paul Schneider (Weinberg ’96, Kellogg ’11) said others have dubbed him “the person that brought a bar back to campus.” The pub is named after his granddaughter. 

“Luna was here three months ago when she walked up and she said, ‘Wow, look at this place. That’s my name,’” Schneider said. “I didn’t need to say anything else. Someday, she’ll figure it out.”

The vendors offering free items to students on the plaza have connections to Norris or Luna’s Pub, Norris Executive Director Corbin Smyth said. Heaven’s Honey Inc., for instance, supplies the honey for the hot honey fried chicken sandwich at Luna’s Pub.   

Phoenix Bean founder Jenny Yang (Kellogg ’98) said her start-up, which she started two decades ago, supplies tofu to NU through Compass Group. 

From her table on the plaza, she could see across the water the glass building of her alma mater. Campus has changed a lot since she attended NU, she said. 

“It was not like this at all, of course,” she said. “It’s great to come back here, my own school, using our tofu.”

Other vendors Wednesday also had ties to Norris dining, like Shake Smart, which sees long lines almost daily on the building’s first floor. Coca-Cola, which Smyth said is NU’s official beverage provider, offered free cans of Sprite and Mr. Pibb. 

Near the end of the celebration, some donors migrated downstairs and indoors to Luna’s Pub. Smyth said everything about the pub’s design intends to make it a place where people want to linger, from the warm tone colors to the furniture choices. 

He’s hoping that sentiment extends to the rest of Norris, where people from all parts of the University can gather, he said. 

“It’s a great equalizer for campus,” Smyth said. “It’s where people can come together on common ground.”

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— Norris to be renovated this summer, will feature pub, rooftop patio