Last week, this board offered criticism as well as some praise to the Policy Alternatives Community Education coalition?s attempts at curbing overconsumption in the Madison community. Today we call on PACE as well as students to engage in more active communication on this issue.
Students must realize the threat to their freedom is real. If PACE has its way, drink specials will be abolished ? not just on the weekends, or late at night ? but during weekdays starting at 8 p.m. Students, however, can stand up and prevent this from happening.
In an interview with The Badger Herald, PACE Project Director Sue Crowley as well as University Spokesperson John Lucas reminded us that no students have attended the Alcohol License Review Committee?s meetings to express opposition to various proposals. The committee genuinely wants to know what students think about their ideas, and what methods students think might be effective at curbing high-risk drinking. We call on fellow students to speak up by attending these meetings.
But communication is a two way street. If PACE, the ALRC and the University are serious about creating an environment of active dialogue with the students they mean to regulate, they will need to do more than speak with this board. They should go to bars and talk with students buying beer on Flip Night. They should send out e-surveys like the one the Athletic Department dispersed concerning student tickets. They should hold significantly publicized open forums on campus. Students can provide anecdotal examples concerning their behavior of that of their peers, which PACE?s sociological data may not substantiate. Above all, they should seek out the student voice rather than wait for it to come to them.
According to Lucas and Crowley, PACE will be conducting focus groups with students soon. This is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough.
The many students who strongly oppose some of these regulatory proposals must do more than put witty posters on walls. They must do everything in their power to express that opposition, literally, before the ALRC, PACE and the University Administration.
Drinking is an integral part of this culture, like it or not. But so is communication. We call on all parties involved to participate in a more active dialogue.
*The next ALRC meeting is Friday, March 12, at 1:30 p.m. in room 103A of the City County Building.
CORRECTION: The next ALRC meeting will not be on Friday, March 12, but rather on Wednesday, March 17 at 5:30 PM in room 260 of the Madison Municipal Building.
