Our
View: CSU game alcohol prohibition
doomed
Doesn’t history teach us anything? When will the United States and California’s
so-called educational institutions realize
the prohibition of alcohol didn’t work in the 20s and won’t work
today either?
According to a Daily Forty-Niner article last week, an executive order from California
State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed banned the sale of alcoholic beverages
and also limited the advertisement of beer and wine at athletic events.
And so history repeats itself. Unfortunately, in an effort to do good like during
Prohibition, disaster is inevitable. The CSU system understandably wants to promote
safe and responsible drinking in lieu of tragic incidents on campuses like Chico
State and San Diego State, according to the Forty-Niner article.
That’s all well and good, but alcohol consumption is uncontrollable and
difficult to regulate effectively. Not selling a few cups of beer in The Walter
Pyramid or Blair Field is not going to control the situation. It only has the
potential to make it worse.
If students can’t drink at the game, it’s not hard to assume they
will find their liquid refreshments elsewhere. Knowing they can’t enjoy
a cold Budweiser while watching the Dirtbags may possibly lead to less safe “pre-drinking.”
It’s a common tactic these days. To get loaded, students drink before going
to venues, knowing alcohol will either be nonexistent there, unsatisfactory or
too expensive. It’s a way to drink just to get drunk, not to enjoy the
taste or socialize with friends.
Pre-drinking isn’t necessarily always bad, but in regards to sporting events,
it can be. Beer cups at baseball games at Blair Field were common before this
executive order, more so than in The Walter Pyramid. Rowdiness resulting from
the effects of those beverages, however, was not so commonplace. If people initiate
in pre-drinking instead of concurrent game drinking, the results may be worse
than before.
The CSU Alcohol Policy and Prevention Program and board of trustees should realize
before issuing such orders that most campuses do not have enough harmful alcohol-related
incidents in comparison to the amount of alcohol drank at an average game. Comparing
alcohol consumption at Cal State Long Beach with other schools is inappropriate,
for each CSU campus has its own identity and problems.
Chico State has had problems in the past, especially during its famous beer-soaked
Greek Week. Here’s a modest little suggestion for them: The only way to
curb drinking at Chico State is to relocate the city of Chico because given its
location, drinking is probably the only thing to do. Long Beach doesn’t
quite have that same problem of outwardly location, so why is it suffering some
CSU-wide alcohol prohibition?
An additional look at the executive order’s reasoning further enhances
its apparent short sightedness. The CSU system’s alcohol policy states
it “…believes that students under the influence of alcohol cannot
perform at their full potential.”
That’s true, but the problem is students aren’t exactly performing
at any potential when attending a sporting event. The last thing on most students’ minds
during women’s volleyball is a midterm. Using the CSU alcohol policy statements,
it makes little sense to ban booze at games but makes perfect sense to ban beer
during, say, biology lectures.
Maybe the chancellor will realize that after a loss of much-needed revenue from
alcohol sales and advertising, this little prohibition wasn’t such a good
idea after all. It took the United States 13 years and some good times at “speakeasies” to
realize Prohibition sucked. Let’s hope the CSU leaders figure things out
quicker.
In the meantime, bottoms up. Cheers to that.
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