The road to Witherspoon continues. Many readers have asked, “Are you really running for student body president?” My response, “Of course, if it is printed in the newspaper it must be true!”
Last time I touched on the issue of alcohol equity. Alcohol equity is the notion that students should be treated equal in the application of University policies and regulations. Even though current rules on the prohibition of alcohol consumption at Wolfpack athletic events is applicable to all people, the University ignores the privileged few who own luxury suites and boxes. Even the rule makers — the N.C. State University Board of Trustees and the RBC Center’s Centennial Authority — are guilty of violating alcohol policies.
Students and the other lowly fans must use covert tactics to drink alcohol during games while the ruling class sips on their gin and tonics while mocking the rules.
Alcohol is NCSU. Now no one else will admit that, especially administrators, but it is true. Can you think of a major campus event that doesn’t involve alcohol? Sporting events? Well, we already know the answer to that one.
Think of all the major campus social events the University shut down because of alcohol: The annual Brent Road block party; Delta Sig’s annual charitable event Lawn Party; and, of course, Campout.
Last week Technician reporter Kasey Butler wrote a story titled “Campout draws small crowd,” chronicling the downfall of the popular campus tradition. “More than 5,000 students inhabited hundreds of tents pitched from the intersection of Dunn Avenue and Pullen Road to the Tri-Towers and beyond. Alcohol was abundant and the night was going smoothly. Then word started spreading that the amount of students present had far exceeded the availability of tickets … Couches were burned. Beer cans were thrown. A police officer was injured. That was the scene six years ago when the tradition of Campout was forever changed by one night of debauchery.”
What was missing from the report? The Department of Athletics lied about the number of tickets available to the student body. That athletics director is no longer at this university. Public Safety, now known as Campus Police, failed to provide an adequate number of officers to handle the large crowd. The University’s actions, or inactions, were the trigger events that ultimately lead to the end of the Campout tradition. Yet the University took no responsibility for what happened that night and blamed the entire incident on drunken students.
I go back to what I said earlier — NCSU is alcohol. Can you remember a major news event involving NCSU that didn’t have alcohol involved? Remember the Facebook scandal and the tailgate shootings. In response to the shootings, Chancellor James Oblinger has formed a taskforce to explore changing tailgate regulations. Will they ban alcohol from the tailgating areas? Whatever changes do occur, they are likely to focus primarily on students and provide exemptions for influential alumni and luxury box owners.
One of the problems with the University’s alcohol policy is it sends mixed messages. Certain groups of students are “better” than others. Did you know drinking is permitted at the College of Design’s annual Halloween Party on East Campus? Yet the University denies other student organizations the ability to have alcohol at their events. What makes a design student any better than anyone else.
I don’t want it to come across that I am advocating alcohol use on campus. Quite the contrary. I just want consistent application of alcohol policies to all members and classes of the campus community. I also want to the University to take some responsibility when it screws up and stops using student alcohol use as a scapegoat.
Now for the political message — elect me as your next student body president and I will put an end to the University’s racist, anti-student alcohol policies.
