OPINION & EDITORIAL
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
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- Don't Cut Historical Society Funds (April 29, 2003)
- Redirecting control (April 23, 2003)
Related Stories:
- UW, city need to remember students (July 17, 2002)
- Time to step up (April 24, 2002)
- Dealing with downtown drinking (January 23, 2002)
- Good intentions, bad ideas (April 4, 2002)
- Bemoaning PACE, drink-special ban (February 24, 2005)
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Barely 24-hours before the city’s Alcohol License Review Committee considers banning drinking in downtown, a new federal report suggests the city, university and Robert Woods Johnson foundation are on the wrong track.
For the past year, we’ve actively editorialized in opposition to the university’s push to ban downtown drink specials. We’ve repeatedly urged the university and city to prioritize policies focused on diversifying — not regulating — Madison’s weekend scene. We hope that with the new federal report on campus drinking, UW and Madison officials will take pause in their quest to banish drinking to house parties.
The new report, released by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, relegates drink-special bans and other proposals currently before the ALRC to “third-tier” drinking solutions — promising policies that require serious additional research. Rather, the NIAAA strongly recommends universities pursue so-called “social normative campaigns.” Social-normative campaigns, which have achieved tremendous early success on other campuses, aim to bring campus misconceptions of rampant binge drinking into line with reality. In Madison, a typical campaign would be as simple as reminding bar-goers that most UW students drink responsibly (potentially big news in Bascom and City Hall).
The fate of drink specials along with student safety is hanging in the balance. The ALRC, RWJ foundation and university officials are on the side of regulating drink prices — limiting the rights of business owners and driving students into death-trap house parties. Tonight the ALRC will be hearing the report of its subcommittee, which casts a negative light on the activities of student drinkers, but offers no real solutions. The subcommittee suggests nonsensical answers such as photographing people sent to detox and banning drink specials after 8 p.m., while making only the small steps in recognizing the danger of house parties and the promise of all-age entertainment venues. The report suggests no remedies to make house parties safer other than the already passed keg registration ordinance.
Students concerned with downtown alcohol policy should stop by tonight’s ALRC meeting to show support for student rights and safety. Students are going to drink — period. As students know, and the federal government now recognizes, that alcohol abuse is not a problem the city can regulate away. The university and city need to realize the current suggestions will not fix the problem. Students should make the message clear tonight.
