Beer and Circus

by Murray Sperber

  Vicki Smith of the AP interviewed Robert Biggs, executive vice president of Phi Delta Theta, 10/11/98; Anne Matthews, in Bright College Years (op. cit.), gave the statistic that 85 percent of all non-freshmen students live off-campus, p. 67; the interview with the University of Michigan administrator occurred on campus in Ann Arbor, 12/14/98, and, for obvious reasons, he spoke off the record. Ever since its 1994 edition the Princeton Review has featured a “Stone-cold sober school” list, and Brigham Young has always been on it, usually in first or second place.

  15: Drinking Off-Campus and Far Off-Campus (Spring Break)

  Steven Girardi of the Tampa Tribune reported on the local college student drinking scene, 10/17/97; Eric Deegans of the St. Petersburg Times wrote about the day-to-day USF bar scene, 10/17/97. I distributed questionnaires on the University of South Florida campus, and interviewed some students after they filled them out, 5/21—22/98; because the survey indicates anonymous responses, I did not ask students for their names during the subsequent interviews. Larry Olmsatead of Playboy magazine wrote about the top college bars, October 1997, pp. 126-28; Scott Austin and Deborah Satter of ESPN The Magazine offered their college bar list, 7/27/98.

  Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times traveled around the country, 9/26/96; U Magazine wrote about the “most puked-upon stretch of concrete in the United States,” December 1996; Plott Brice of the Atlanta Constitution quoted Carole Middlebrooks of the University of Georgia health service about the “52 businesses,” 10/4/97; the 2000 edition of the Insider’s Guide had the “campus mascot” as “a drunk person.” The 2000 Georgia-Florida football game was held in Jacksonville, Florida, but most tailgaters at “The World’s Outdoor Cocktail Party” were students and alumni of UGA and UF.

  UConn student Amy J. Miller wrote the article for the Daily Campus about drinking at that school, 2/3/99; Jennifer Hanson wrote The Real Freshmen Handbook (Boston, 1996), and the section, “How to Get a Fake ID,” is on p. 164. The Internet firms selling fake IDs claim that these are strictly “novelty items,” similar to fake newspaper headlines involving one’s brother marrying Julia Roberts, etc. This legal dodge parallels the one used by the companies selling recycled term papers—they claim that the latter are not to be submitted as one’s own work, but used only as “study guides.”

  Benita Y. Williams of the Kansas City Star quoted Ashley Udden of the KU Panhellenic Association, 11/13/97; the bar manager in East Lansing, Michigan, spoke off the record for obvious reasons, 12/16/98; and the Columbus Dispatch published the story, “CASE AGAINST BEER VENDOR,” 5/1/99, and “NO ID NEEDED,” 4/27/99, no reporters given for either story. The Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Last Call (op. cit.) provided an overview of the last decades of campus drinking and discussed “the campus drinking environment,” pp. 2—4. The AP carried the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog story, 7/25/98, and Richard Berman of the Louisville Courier-Journal did a follow-up on the criticism of the catalog, 7/15/98. However, this was hardly an idiosyncratic corporate gaffe; subscribers to Sports Illustrated recently received an advertising catalog from a company called Tailgate Clothing, selling college clothing paraphernalia, including their “trademark” T-shirt, “Join the Party.” Their logo closely resembles the Miller Beer Company’s famous logo.

  The bar manager in Iowa City, Iowa, spoke off the record on 5/28/98; I must thank Abby Sutton, the manager of Mother Bears in Bloomington, Indiana, and a former student, for explaining the college bar scene to me, 11/27/99, and I have used her insights in this section of the chapter. “Lose Those Midweek Blues” was an ad for a local nightclub in the Indiana Daily Student, 9/18/97; the “MIND ERASER” was an ad for a local bar in the Auburn [University] Plainsman, 3/7/96; and “Kilroy’s on Kirkwood” advertised in the Bloomington ADD [sic] SHEET, 11/10/99.

  Bruce Horovitz wrote about the corporate tie-in to Spring Break 1995 in USA Today, 3/22/95; and Jayne Clark wrote about Spring Break 1999 for that newspaper, 3/5/99; using the numbers in their stories and projecting them to 2000 prompts the numbers in the text for that year. Many Rolling Stone staff writers did its guide to “Spring Break 1999” section, and gave an overview of the history as well as the current scene at various popular destinations, 3/4/99, pp. 61—74.

  The senior woman at Ohio State explained her Spring Break plans in an interview after she filled out the questionnaire for this book on campus, 11/17/98; the Indiana Daily Student published Gretel Hakanson’s article about the Grateful Dead fans, and Kaylene Riemen’s “Tanning Salons Work Overtime” in its “Spring Break Special Edition,” 3/3/92. The Iowa State woman filled out the questionnaire and did an interview in Des Moines, Iowa, on the Drake University campus (where she was visiting), on 10/23/99; the University of Maryland honors student, a senior male, did the questionnaire and interview on campus in College Park, 2/16/99. The Indiana Daily Student ran Jill Prosi’s article, “Start Working Out Now” in its “Spring Break Guide 1998,” 1/15/98.

  The Rolling Stone “Spring Break 1999” guide (op. cit.) quoted the Florida bartender, p. 73, and that edition also had the T-shirts from Mazatlan, p. 68. The Penn State senior male wrote his comments in the P.S. section of the web survey, 6/12/99. USA Today reporter Edna Gundersen covered Woodstock 1999, and quoted organizer John Scher about the scene, 7/26/99; the next day in that newspaper, Cesar G. Soriano and Bruce Harding described the end of the festival in terms of the “Right to Party” riots at Michigan State and Ohio University.

  16: Party Round the Team

  James Naughton of the Chronicle of Higher Education covered the 1998 NCAA meeting, and quoted and paraphrased Donna Shalala’s comments, 1/23/1998. The university president who criticized Donna Shalala heads a Division III school in Wisconsin and made his remarks in a phone interview, 9/13/99; he asked to speak off the record because “my school deals with her Department of Health and Human Services frequently, and I do not want to start any trouble in any way, shape, or form with them.” In this article, Naughton quoted Thomas C. Hansen, commissioner of the Pac-10 conference; Naughton later described the NCAA meeting in an interview in Des Moines, Iowa, 10/23/99. The Furman Bisher article appeared in the Atlanta Constitution, 1/14/98.

  James Naughton of the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote a feature article on the topic of college sports and the connections to beer advertising money for his journal, 1/9/98. In it he quoted Jeff Becker, a beer industry executive, on “the best audience”; he referred to the Baylor and Brigham Young bans; and quoted Elise Lenox, Stanford University director of alcohol abuse prevention. USA Today described the Superdome party scene, 1/5/00 (no author given).

  Over the years, a number of NCAA officials, notably former executive director Dick Schultz, have attempted to distance college sports from alcohol beverage advertising. They had some minor successes, for example, reducing the percentage of alcohol beverage advertising in the programs and scorecards for NCAA tourneys; however, in the many years since Schultz’s departure from the NCAA, his successor; Cedric Dempsey, has shown minimal interest in this policy, and has pointed out that the initiative must come as much from the conferences and schools—because they sign many TV and radio broadcast contracts—as from the NCAA. Checkmate. Stalemate. As an associate athletic director of Wake Forest University (at one time, a strict Baptist school) told Jim Naughton of the Chronicle of Higher Education (op. cit.), “Because the beer industry is perhaps the biggest commercial supporter of college athletics, the development of restrictions [on beer ads] is unlikely.” And during the NCAA’s premier event, March Madness, CBS-TV includes many beer ads.

  The Indiana University administrator spoke off the record, 4/20/99; Charles Bullard of the Des Moines Register wrote about UI’s leadership in “a national effort,” 10/8/96; he quoted Mary Sue Coleman, and the statistics on national and UI binge drinking, 9/11/98. Marilyn Aguirre-Molina was the spokesperson for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and mentioned “the profile of schools with drinking problems” in an article in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse W
eek, 11/18/96 (no reporter named). Henry L. Davis, the medical reporter for the Buffalo News summed up the research on “highest-risk campuses,” 10/5/97. The Insider’s Guide reported on drinking at Iowa in its 1999 edition but significantly toned down the comments in 2000. The Des Moines Register discussed UI’s order for Greek units “to turn off the tap,” 6/18/97 (no reporter given); and Nathan Hill of that newspaper reported on the alcohol-free tailgate parties, 9/5/99. The AP carried the story on UI’s rejecting Miller Beer’s offer, 7/30/99 (no reporter given); and Andrew T. Dawson of the student newspaper Daily Iowan examined the Stepping Up program, 4/12/00. In this article, the results of the most recent “study of nearly 1,500 UI students revealed that 71 percent meet the criteria for binge drinking,” according to UI psychology professor Peter Nathan, and “There has been virtually no change in UI’s binge-drinking rate.” This number is somewhat higher than the almost 64 percent recorded by the Harvard School of Public Health researchers at UI, and indicates the full extent of the problem. The quotes from UI students are from the 4/12/00 article in the Daily Iowan, and from articles in that paper the previous and following days.

  Joel Eskovitz offered his comments, 2/17/00. Jennifer Cassell of the Des Moines Register gave the liquor license number, 9/21/97, and Evelyn Lauer of that paper discussed the laissez-faire attitude of many residents in the surrounding communities, 4/28/98. Mary Sue Coleman acknowledged the problems with the off-campus drinking scene in an article by Jodi Wilgoren, New York Times, 3/15/00. The interviews with the Iowa students and officials quoted in this part of the chapter took place on campus and in off-campus public places, 10/20—21/99. Shari Roan, the health writer for the Los Angeles Times, visited the University of Iowa and wrote about the anti-binge drinking campaign there, 10/19/98; she quoted Philip Jones, vice president for student services at UI, on the plans “to reclaim Mondays and Fridays,” and sponsor cultural events and non-alcoholic parties for students. The Florida State professor explained his teaching scheduling in a phone interview, 1/10/00; he spoke off the record because, “Believe it or not, the administrators of this school are very sensitive about the number one parry school image.” The Princeton Review editorialized, “Few students are interested,” in a front section, “What Did We Learn from the Survey?” in the 1995 edition; it later dropped this section but its comments are still valid.

  The poll on visits by administrators and faculty to student housing began by accident, as a sort of conversational filler during interviews with college officials. When I realized that their responses gave me an important insight into contemporary university life, particularly in terms of the binge-drinking issue, I had already completed a large number of interviews with administrators and faculty, and it was too late to put the poll on any sort of regular footing. Therefore, I present my results as anecdotal evidence, but I urge other researchers to undertake a formal study of this question. I believe that their results will validate my point about the distance of university officials and faculty from undergraduate life. Finally, I want to note an exception to the above: Indiana University dean of students Richard McKaig not only frequently eats in campus housing units but sometimes stays overnight in them—not as a policeman but as a person who genuinely wants to learn about student life.

  Jason Waymire of the Atlanta Constitution wrote about the drinking scene at Georgia Tech, 10/13/97. The Princeton Review 2000 commented on campus drinking policies in a front section, “About Those College Rankings”; it also discussed the law of unintended consequences and how off-campus drinking could create drunk-driving incidents. The Purdue University senior female filled out a questionnaire and did an interview on campus in West Lafayette, Ind., 6/27/99. See the preface of this book for an explanation of the methodology of the survey.

  The woman at the University of Texas, Austin, did a questionnaire and interview on campus, 11/24/98; the Clemson woman also filled out a questionnaire and did an interview on campus, 4/15/99; the Oregon State sophomore woman completed a web survey form, 5/14/99; and the senior female at North Carolina State did her web form, 6/2/99. The Indiana University male senior filled out a web survey form after Jackie Tirey of the Indiana Daily Student discussed my work on this book, 10/1/99 (this article distributed by U-Wire prompted many respondents to the web survey). The University of Iowa males did questionnaires and interviews on campus, 10/21/99; both Ohio University males completed web surveys, 10/10/99; the Washington State senior male did his the following day; and the senior woman at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, did a questionnaire and interview on campus, 11/11/98. University of Maryland fraternity house president Rich Zeoli offered his comments on ABC-TV’s Nightline, 5/11/98.

  The Indiana University fraternity member was a former student of mine and agreed to an interview, 4/4/98; he asked to speak off the record. The Arizona State male senior filled out a web survey form, 6/17/99; I visited Arizona State University on 10/7/95 and, according to Andy Bagnato of the Chicago Tribune, a native son of nearby Phoenix, the athletic facilities and library have not changed in the five years since. Anne Matthews, in Bright College Years (op. cit.), provides a good description of Arizona State’s “night campus,” pp. 80—84; the Insider’s Guide also describes the party scene there, see the late 1990s and 2000 editions. The ASU undergraduate who wrote, “Sometime in your freshmen year,” filled out a web survey form, 10/1/99, and the University of Arizona in Tucson student did his, 9/21/99.

  17: Rally Round the Team—As Long As It Wins and Covers the Spread

  Matthew Decapua wrote his article in the UConn Daily Campus, 3/10/99; the Ohio State senior filled out a questionnaire and did an interview on campus, 11/17/98; the Ball State University junior filled out a web survey form, 11/12/99; I visited that university on 2/25/00, and discussions with faculty and students confirmed the validity of the BSU junior’s opinion. The research of Dr. Robert Cialdini was quoted by Bob Andelman in Why Men Watch Football, Lafayette, La., 1993, pp. 39—40. The unhappy University of lowa junior male filled out a web survey form, 12/13/99.

  ESPN The Magazine ran the “Loser University” comment, 4/19/99, p. 26 (no author given); Nick Bakay did the mock gambling chart, 9/7/98, p. 34; the painted FSU students appeared, 12/14/98, pp. 14—15 (no author given). George David of Indiana University wrote an unpublished paper, “Indiana University Sports—Then and Now,” 12/4/94; Erik Brady of USA Today wrote about “Fans behaving badly,” 11/19/99. Tim Witosky of the Des Moines Register, a reporter who has covered college sports exceptionally well for many years, quoted Ted Harris, a former college athlete, on the campus betting problem; reprinted in USA Today, 1/13/98.

  Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated wrote the campus gambling series, 4/3—4/10—4/17, 1995; the quote on the Juice Generation, the discussion of “23 percent of students gambled,” and the betting of the Cameron Crazies came 4/3/95, pp. 70-74; former bookie William (B. J.) Jahoda commented to SI, 4/10/95, p. 74. The Michigan State student wrote his P.S. on the web survey form, 1/10/00; Chad Millman, a former student of mine and a contributor to the SI series (op. cit.), told me about the “serious betting scene” at IU in a phone conversation, 10/8/98. The University of Maryland undergraduate talked about the scene at home games after he filled out a questionnaire, 2/17/99; the ACC athletic department official spoke totally off the record, explaining, “Everyone I work with dislikes your books on college sports, and I don’t want to catch flack from them for talking to you. I happen to like College Sports Inc. and so I’ll talk to you now like I did for that book,” 2/24/99. (It was easier to interview people before I had published a book critical of college sports, but I thank the ACC official for his time and comments.)

  For a detailed history of the late-1940s and early 1950s fixes in college basketball, see Onward to Victory (op. cit.), part 5, “Scandal Years,” pp. 285—410. I met the University of Florida student who discussed campus gambling on the University of Florida campus on 5/17/98; he filled out a questionnaire and, in the interview, he talked about b
etting on campus.

  Robert Dorr of the Omaha World-Herald asked Peter Ruchman, a Las Vegas bookmaker, about the action on various college sports events, 11/15/98; this article has some of the national statistics. USA Today reported on the University of Michigan study, 1/12/99 (no reporter given); Tim Lowry of that paper wrote an excellent feature about on-line betting on “March Madness,” 3/12/99. Indianapolis News sportswriter Phil Richards translated the athlete betting statistics into game situations, 5/6/99; the Big Ten athlete who predicted future college fixes admitted that he bet on his team—“But only to win when we have a sure lock”—and requested that I not print his name, school, or the date of the interview.