Spring Break
For a day, students will mingle, free of the familiar beer garden
THE QUESTION OF ALCOHOL
by Claire Moses
News | 4/17/07
Posted online at 10:26 PM EST on 4/16/07
/ Last updated at 6:09 AM EST on 4/16/07
With administrators considering a proposal to loosen the University's policies for serving alcohol at school-sponsored events, the annual Springfest music festival this weekend looms as a test of how far the administration will go to ease the current restrictions.
Student Union officials drafted the proposal in February after complaining for over a year that the current policy makes alcohol too costly and difficult to serve at campus parties, hindering campus social life.
The draft proposal called for allowing underage students into beer gardens; scaling back requirements for security personnel at events; allowing students to check IDs and serve alcohol; and shifting oversight responsibility from the administration to students at such events.
The state of negotiations over the proposal remains unclear. One of the most significant proposed changes, which called for permitting student groups to buy alcohol from vendors other than Aramark in order to lower the cost of purchasing alcohol, has already been dismissed because of contractual obligations with Aramark.
But Springfest, an afternoon of musical performances on the Great Lawn Saturday, will be used as a testing ground for another significant proposed change. Students over 21 who are drinking will not be separated from their underage peers at the festival, a change from the University's 2005 requirement for "beer gardens" at campus parties, according to Union and administration officials.
All beer served at Springfest will still be enclosed on the Great Lawn-to keep with the requirements of state law-but minors will have X's drawn on their hands and students over 21 will wear wristbands.
Administrators' opinion of Springfest could go a long way in determining how flexible they will be in reforming the current policy.
"This event will be monitored very closely and we will be prepared to take
swift action should any issues arise out of my decision to not use a beer garden for this even[t]," Mark Collins, the vice president for campus operations, wrote in an e-mail. "Hopefully, that will not be the case."
Student Union officials drafted the proposal in February after complaining for over a year that the current policy makes alcohol too costly and difficult to serve at campus parties, hindering campus social life.
The draft proposal called for allowing underage students into beer gardens; scaling back requirements for security personnel at events; allowing students to check IDs and serve alcohol; and shifting oversight responsibility from the administration to students at such events.
The state of negotiations over the proposal remains unclear. One of the most significant proposed changes, which called for permitting student groups to buy alcohol from vendors other than Aramark in order to lower the cost of purchasing alcohol, has already been dismissed because of contractual obligations with Aramark.
But Springfest, an afternoon of musical performances on the Great Lawn Saturday, will be used as a testing ground for another significant proposed change. Students over 21 who are drinking will not be separated from their underage peers at the festival, a change from the University's 2005 requirement for "beer gardens" at campus parties, according to Union and administration officials.
All beer served at Springfest will still be enclosed on the Great Lawn-to keep with the requirements of state law-but minors will have X's drawn on their hands and students over 21 will wear wristbands.
Administrators' opinion of Springfest could go a long way in determining how flexible they will be in reforming the current policy.
"This event will be monitored very closely and we will be prepared to take
swift action should any issues arise out of my decision to not use a beer garden for this even[t]," Mark Collins, the vice president for campus operations, wrote in an e-mail. "Hopefully, that will not be the case."
Be the first to comment on this story