Provoking criticism from students, tavern owners and several city officials, a city subcommittee drafted a report in March recommending drink-special regulation in downtown bars. And as part of the university’s attempt to curb binge-drinking, Chancellor Wiley endorsed the report’s recommendations April 25.
The report, drafted by the Alcohol License Review Committee’s subcommittee, was set for consideration by the City Council May 7 but was delayed due to a packed agenda. At an ALRC meeting April 25, students and tavern owners turned out to testify against the recommendation.
“I don’t have much money, my friends don’t have much money, and we want to go out and have a good time,” UW graduate student Ryan Heinemann said at the meeting. “This is America. We have rights. This isn’t socialism.”
Students argued that the regulation gives the city a “babysitter” presence and would hurt students’ pocketbooks.
“Students are just going to drink [before going to bars],” UW sophomore Charlie Sieb said. “They’re just not going to spend as much money. Which doesn’t solve anything. As students, we are already strapped for cash; [we should be] allowed to relax.”
But university officials maintained regulating drink specials in bars would force students to drink less, thereby cutting down on binge-drinking.
“As price goes up, consumption goes down. There is a direct correlation,” Susan Crowley, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, testified at the meeting.
Tavern owners criticized the recommendation for attempting to regulate bars’ sales.
“I don’t think anyone has the right to tell me at what price to sell drinks, any more than they can tell me how much to charge for a hamburger,” Marsh Shapiro, owner of the Nitty Gritty, 223 N. Frances St., said at the meeting.
Kent Palmer, chair of the subcommittee that drafted the report, said although he does not necessarily agree with all of the report’s recommendations, the suggestions have been instrumental in focusing attention on binge-drinking.
“If the least thing this report does is generate a dialogue, the hard work has been worth it,” Palmer said.
Soon after the ALRC received the subcommittee report, tavern owners blasted the university for extending Union hours next fall, calling the university hypocritical for attempting to regulate city bar sales while increasing sales of beer at the Unions, which will be open until bar time Thursday through Saturday.
“The city needs to take a serious look at the fact that just as the university plans to expand their own alcohol service they are demanding the private-sector taverns place limitations on their alcohol sales,” reads the report. “This is a serious conflict of interest that calls into question the university’s motives and objectives.”
But university officials said the expanded Union hours come after students requested safe alternatives to house parties and other drinking activities, and not to increase alcohol sales.
“It’s important to never lose sight of the big picture,” Wisconsin Union Directorate President Andrew Wallmeyer said. “Students say they drink because there’s nothing else to do, and the unions are well-managed, mixed-use facilities with lots of programming where they can choose to drink or not.”
