NIKE HAS Tiger Woods. McDonald's has Coke. U.Va. has Budweiser.
Maybe you hadn't heard about this. Perhaps you assumed it would be Beast Light instead. Thanks to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, ("Uneasy Alliance: On Many Campuses, Big Brewers Play a Role in New Alcohol Policies," Nov. 2) though, this confusion has been cleared up. Full disclosure of an alliance between U.Va. and the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company was made in an excruciatingly well-researched report about the drinking culture on college campuses.
The trail of money leads back to a $150,000 pledge made by the famous beer maker to the University. Anheuser-Busch's aim was to provide funding to universities who combat binge-drinking problems through "social-norms marketing." Essentially, the idea is to promote moderation. Our good friends at the brewery believe that equates to responsible drinking. This may be true, but we should be wary of the term "marketing" used in association with a program designed to reduce the consumption of alcohol.
|
The theory behind social-norms is that if students are educated about how much their peers "really" drink, they will be less inclined to imbibe merely to look cool and fit in. Gee, didn't they try that with us in middle school?
The posters distributed for the social norms campaign last year, entitled "The Real Grounds" - mimicking MTV's "The Real World" - were received with lukewarm enthusiasm. The punch line: Most U.Va. first years have 0 to 4 drinks per week. That's a pretty big range. And how many is "most"?
It's ridiculous to think that college-age students can be swayed not to drink by convincing them that "cool people don't drink." Binge drinkers are responsible for their own actions and do not have the influence of their peers to blame. While students may not all be of legal drinking age, they are adults with rational decision making skills.
Equally hypocritical is the University's desire to launch a campaign saying that it is okay to drink - just not too much - when countless policies and penal systems are in place to ensure full compliance with the drinking laws. Ask any first year - at whom these bathroom stall posters are aimed - about the notion of drinking "moderately." Would such a concept stand as full defense for someone facing University Judiciary Committee charges for having one beer in his room?
Additionally, accepting money from a beer maker to pursue such ends raises serious ethical questions. The fact that the social-norms marketing program never cites its sponsor and the information isn't widely known makes this questionable behavior even shadier.
As if it weren't suspicious enough, there is the fact that U.Va. has accepted other money from Anheuser-Busch and reported it. The Wall Street Journal reports "Anheuser at around the same time gave the school $1.2 million for an environmental-research center." Maybe to investigate improved aluminum can recycling systems?
The University has some explaining to do. Taking money from a brewing company to help them sell more of their product is clearly problematic.
Granted, it doesn't help that University students tend to revel in their mischief a little too much. Yeah, so Charlottesville isn't a bustling city with a sparkling nightlife. Yeah, so the Greek system has a strong tradition at the University. But as the reporters for this article unearthed, heavy drinking steeps deep into the University's culture.
Nightly beer specials, Corner crawls, tailgates and fourth-year fifths - these all represent an acceptance of drinking far beyond moderation. The guide to bars published twice this year in The Cavalier Daily illustrates the threshold of tolerance for such behavior.
The time has come for University students to clean up their acts. When a newspaper recognized and read worldwide for its authoritative reporting calls us out, our reputation certainly will be affected. That simple fact compels us to start acting our age - and not the one on our fake IDs. At a school so image-conscious and ratings-crazed, students and administrators alike have little choice but to act responsibly.
The Budweiser frogs shouldn't be our pseudo-mascots. The Wahoo fish - yes, the one that drinks twice its weight - symbolizes our problems enough already. Students don't need a poster telling them how many drinks it won't take to make them look cool. When administrators realize that, they'll be taking a far more productive step toward dealing with the serious problem that binge drinking poses.
(Katherine Martini's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily.)
Read More
EDITORIAL: Scapegoating students will not stop hazing
By Editorial Board | 2 days agoInstead of retroactively responding to extreme hazing allegations, we, and especially the University, must begin asking more probing questions about the role of fraternal organizations on Grounds.
EDITORIAL: Celebrating and reflecting on The Cavalier Daily’s independence
By Editorial Board | April 18, 2024Our independence grants us the ability to ask the hard questions and to say what University representatives cannot.
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | April 17, 2024In addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
