Blog 16: Chapter 16: Party Round the Team

Donna Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and former president of the University of Wisconsin found a link between beer and circus. She fought to ban alcohol advertising at any collegiate event and the bringing of alcohol to events. This created controversy between other university presidents. Was Donna Shalala a hypocrite? After all, during her tenure as president, UW’s athletic department accepted beer ads and the campus police turned a blind eye to tailgating and drinking in the stadium. She gave her speech to college professors, athletic directors, administration and many NCCA officials. “To say that her proposals “fell upon deaf ears” is to portray the reaction at the NCAA convention as positive” (Sperber 182-3). They wanted nothing to do with her speech; she barely had time to finish. Although the sale of beer has been banned in many schools, smuggling alcohol into stadiums has increased. Many schools have moved their stadiums off campus so they can partake in the sale of beer. Universities can put up all the signs they want banning alcohol but it won’t stop the drinking. Bobby Dodd Stadium (Georgia Tech) signs clearly state no alcohol. “When the band strikes up a favorite tune in the second half of Tech’s homecoming football game…they [the students] loudly join the chorus, “When you say Budweiser, you’ve said it all” (Sperber 191). This is only one example of “smuggling in the goods” but the same type of behavior was displayed nationwide throughout the university circuit. Kids brought in smuggled alcohol in flask; they put alcohol into their coke cans and did whatever they had to do, because drinking was going to take place at collegiate sporting events no matter what. In the 2000 Princeton Review they added an editorial comment based on the large amount of essays submitted by angry students. “CAMPUS WIDE DRINKING PROHIBITIONS DON”T WORK” (Sperber 192).