Spring Break
OP-ED: Beer stance deprives students of social scene
by Aaron Taylor and Adam Zemel
Op-Ed | 4/8/08
Posted online at 2:53 AM EST on 4/8/08
We first came across the Student Events policy cordoning off sections of a social area to devote to those of drinking age at the Battle of the Bands last semester. It was our first semester on campus, and Aaron, 21 and a transfer student wanted to enjoy a cold brew. This left Adam, then 18, standing wistfully aside without the person he had planned to attend the event with and skeptical of the possibility of already-scarce socializing between students of different graduating classes and ages at Brandeis.
And so it goes. Student Events plans and organizes a fun campus-wide event to be relevant, well thought-out and potentially a fun way to spend those awkward hours between 8 and 10:30 p.m. Student Events wants to ensure that as many students as possible will be in attendance. One way of guaranteeing an increased upperclassman turnout is to serve free beer, which will bring the 21-and-over crowd trickling in from their Mods and from back behind Cappy's.
The seemingly insignificant insistence on beer gardens at these events reflects a greater problem with the administration's heavy hand in determining campus culture. Last week's report that the old Springfest policy would be reinstated for the annual event this year, reveals the administration's overriding of Student Union officials' attempts to alter both that aspect of Brandeis' alcohol policy and the overall drinking culture on campus. We will not try to attribute a lack of attendance and excitement over Springfest to anything other than weather. However, the fact remains that this policy of beer gardening and its accompanying de facto age segregation is one that must be addressed.
The ability of the administration to stamp out a Student Union initiative to change the direction of the culture of our campus is reprehensible and discouraging. We are not sure exactly how this came about, but the decision made it abundantly clear that a Union campaign to change our campus social landscape was stopped dead in its tracks by the administration. The administration reinstated the beer garden policy, claiming to be addressing the same issues of alcohol culture and socialization that concerned the Union. Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes was quoted in last week's article about establishing a beer garden at Springfest saying, "the beer garden just seems, programmatically, to allow students to have the alcohol and the atmosphere they want."
And so it goes. Student Events plans and organizes a fun campus-wide event to be relevant, well thought-out and potentially a fun way to spend those awkward hours between 8 and 10:30 p.m. Student Events wants to ensure that as many students as possible will be in attendance. One way of guaranteeing an increased upperclassman turnout is to serve free beer, which will bring the 21-and-over crowd trickling in from their Mods and from back behind Cappy's.
The seemingly insignificant insistence on beer gardens at these events reflects a greater problem with the administration's heavy hand in determining campus culture. Last week's report that the old Springfest policy would be reinstated for the annual event this year, reveals the administration's overriding of Student Union officials' attempts to alter both that aspect of Brandeis' alcohol policy and the overall drinking culture on campus. We will not try to attribute a lack of attendance and excitement over Springfest to anything other than weather. However, the fact remains that this policy of beer gardening and its accompanying de facto age segregation is one that must be addressed.
The ability of the administration to stamp out a Student Union initiative to change the direction of the culture of our campus is reprehensible and discouraging. We are not sure exactly how this came about, but the decision made it abundantly clear that a Union campaign to change our campus social landscape was stopped dead in its tracks by the administration. The administration reinstated the beer garden policy, claiming to be addressing the same issues of alcohol culture and socialization that concerned the Union. Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes was quoted in last week's article about establishing a beer garden at Springfest saying, "the beer garden just seems, programmatically, to allow students to have the alcohol and the atmosphere they want."
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