9 9 9 0 0 0 0 r q C e 3ak <;.>;::«:.:::.; ....:.::.::::.: ..........:. i5:>.r'aS:fr:" _, ;::.r...:-...:.:,-::::,:,:................. r. ::::::::":. ,:::.:::r.. COVER STORY Boozing it up Page 1 One of Ann Arbor's more popular pastimes, drinking large amounts of alcohol, isn't exactly the smartest hobby in the world. But weekend after weekend, students suck down beer with little or no thought to their well-being. EXHIBITS - Yesterday. If you want intriguing drama, see 'Bent. Local theater has a little bit of everything. RESTAURANTS Raja Rani Page 9 Indian delicacies never tasted so good. So brave all those hot spices and give Raja a try. Prints Page 3 The retrospective of Frank Stella prints has arrived and is causing quite a stir among those who have viewed the exhibition at the University Museum of Art. THEATER Stage fright Page 4 If you're looking for lighthearted comedy, see Born MUSIC Mixed bag Page 12 A little bit of mellow jazz from Johnny Griffin at the University Club and the post-disco-funk sounds of Patrice Rushen at Power Center are previewed. 0 C 0 -m 3) Imhuhune: Ann Arhnr's nasttime Wee kend Assistant Editor.Ben Ticho sity year and is available for free at many locations vssistnt Edtor ....................'' enTicho around the campus and the city. Voli. bIssue 3 Weekend, (313) 763-0379 and 763-0371; Michigan the staff of The Michigan Daily at 420 Maynard, Ann Daily, ,764-0554.Circulation, 764-0558; Display Ad- Magazine Editors .............. Richard Campbell Arbor, Michigan, 48109. It appears in the Friday vertising -05. Michael Huget edition of the Daily every week during the Univer Cover photo by Brian Masck. Qreo Cookie/Black Rasberry/Tin Roof /M & M/Maple E OI 0 0 W PEN 39 flavors o0 All of our ice creams Z are freshly made in our store. Featuring: g 0 Ice Cream Cakes * Shakes and Malts r * Banana Splits n * Sodas and Floats - 066$ * Pastries and Candies 0#0 330 S. Main Wn N (between William & Liberty) * 662-2626m /Kahlua N Cream/Mint Chocolate Chip/Italian Ices/ 2'. W epd Octoer g,? 1982 . work on your own ID ... most of the stores and all of the bars will let you get by." Do bars in the campus area really let underage patrons drink, in violation of state law? Officially, of course, they don't-they can't. Selling alcohol to minors is not only against state law, it can get a liquor license revoked. And at $75,000 to $100,000 a throw, a liquor license is a valuable asset-not something to mess around with. Yet unofficially, many bars in the campus area make it extremely easy for underage persons to drink. Dooley's and Charley's, for example, are set up so that customers can buy pitchers of beer right from the bar; once the beer's purchased, there's virtually no restric- tion on who drinks it-just like in the days before the age law went into ef- fect. "Underage people are in here," said Rogers of Charley's on S. University, "but we don't serve them. Underage people have nothing to lose when they come in and try to get served. If they get caught, it's just a $5 fine. If we get caught (serving them), we can lose our license. And off-campus, the restrictions are even less stringent. Besides the hun- dreds of keg parties every weekend (Yes, hundreds: Campus Corners alone usually sells around 150 kegs each weekend, and most of them go to students), there are plenty of par- ties-such as the "Beer Olym- pics -where alcohol is readily available. Rich Richardson, the coordinator of the "Beer Olympics" for Theta Delta Chi, was frank about it: "We could get the beer cheaper if we got a (tem- porary) liquor license, but we don't, because the city would inspect us and see if we violate the (drinking age) law. We get a lot of people from the dorms. And I think that's very positive. When they go out and get kind of drunk, it's better for them to.do it with a bunch of students than in a bar." The Beer Olympics, like many campus parties and events, was sponsored by one of the local beer distributors-in this case Brewery Products, the distributor of Olympia beer. y So if the Beer Olympics is geared toward drinkers under 21, and if the party is sponsored by Olympia Beer,isn't Olympia Beer trying to promote underage drinking?, Gosh, no, says Richard Johnson, manager of Brewery Products. "We certainly don't condone underage drinking. I think you know as well as anyone else ... that there's going to be underage drinking, but we certainly don't condone that." The arrangement is outwardly sim- ple: In exchange for having its trademark plastered allover the adver- tising for the event, the brewery provides all sorts of advertising freebies, like money for ads and flyers, banners, T-shirts, and prizes. The com- pany gets exposure, and the frater- nity-or whoever is in charge of the event-gets a bunch of schlock. But beer company sponsor- ship-thoughit involves thousands of dollars and dozens of events-is only a tiny part of the brewers' advertising ef- fort on campus. Both the breweries and their distributors admit that the college population is one of their key markets, and 4they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year trying to reach it.' The companies spend all that money for two reasons. First, college students simply drink a hell of a lot of beer, and the companies want to make sure they're selling their share. Second,and perhaps more important, the beer 'You keep drinking and all of a sudden it's the next morning. You sort of reconstruct what happened from what people say to you. Somebody asks you 'Didn't we have a good time at that party?' And you ask, 'What party?' -Frank, a reformed alcoholic more beer than they did before they came to college-if they drank at all. They're being oriented to drink more beer ... so now, when they go out they'll buy beer instead of something else." Wanty, whose O & W Inc. last year sponsored the Mud Bowl, Greek Week, and the Freshman First Nighter, said his company advertises to sell its, product-just like any other company. "Anything companies do-let's face it-tends to be a promotional adver- tising type of thing. We want people to feel good about our products and enjoy them. I don't think that those events are what's making them addicted." Some critics of the alcoholic beverage industry, however, have suggested that the liquor industry isn't so much selling a product as selling a way of life-a way of life that happens to require the use and overuse of alcohol. They argue that the liquor in- dustry, even in its public service ads which encourage moderation in drinking, promote an increased depen- dency on alcohol by our society. Richard Douglass is a University researcher who has devoted years of study to the problems that alcohol con- sumption causes for society. He has testified before a Senate committee on the problems the nation has in dealing with alcohol abuse and he was an early and ardent supporter of the movement which raised the legal drinking age to 21. He doesn't buy the alcohol in- dustry's story that their sponsorship of events and advertising on campus are merely harmless promotion of a product: "If you look at the investment of the Distilled Spirits Council in these very small print ads (which encourage "moderation" in drinking), it's in- finitely small when compared to the retail advertising in distilled spirits. It is only done to present an image to the Congress that they're being respon- sible. "And if you read those really carefully, it's really liquor advertising. One says: 'They're old enough, but are they mature enough?' What's the message there? Nobody's going to look at that and say 'They're mature enough, but I'm' not.' "We have quite an open-door to the in-' dustry here (at the University). To me, the sinister motivations of this in- dustry-and I really believe that's what they are-exploit the university com- munity, they insult our intelligence, and they exploit our youth. And we get nothing back. Nothing. "These ads facilitate the entry of in- dustry representatives into campuses Michigan-perhaps by as many as 100 per month. Douglass rejects the argument-ad- vanced both by the alcohol industry and many underage drinkers-that an adult ought to be able "to choose his own poison" and decide for himself whether to drink to excess. "Well that's the same argument you use for a victimless crime. There is no such thing. A person has no right to deny my society of his productivity and contribution. He has no right as a member of this society to not accept his full responsibility and he has no right to disable himself... In the crassest, most object economic sen- se we can't afford to promote the slow or rapid disabling of our youth." LCOHOL abuse, of course, doesn't just cause car accidents. The effects can be far more astating. Frank, a former alcoholic who is currently an undergraduate, said his gradepoint plunged when he was drinking heavily, that he would pick fights with his friends, and that, for a while, he had a blackout at least once a week. "You start drinking at a party," he said, "and you never really get satisfied, so you keep drinking and drinking and allof a sudden it's the next morning. You sort of reconstruct what happened from what people say to you. Somebody asks you 'Didn't we have a good time at that party?' and you ask 'What party?' "The assumption is what irks me," he said. "It's the assumption that companies' studies have found that the drinking patterns formed by in- dividuals during their college years are likely to be carried over for much of the rest of the people's lives. "The local beer warehouses are trying to create more business for themselves. They're in business to do that," said Richardson. "In an event like the "Beer Olympics," we get a lot of freshmen who start to drink a lot so that our health events like marathons, walkathons, rockathons, danceathons, and sports events are all sponsored by the alcohol in- dustry-courting this young, and I think, vulnerable market of the population. And its all done in the name of free enterprise." Douglass says that the higher drinking age has substantially reduced the number of car accidents in you're going t to get drunk. this is college serious, you' dangerous." Steve, a r University, is: another reforn "There's a emphasis put college,"he s a precedent fo Do you go to i few beers or i game? "I think the on TV. The q great: If you macho or a r magazines an< over. "It's not tha all-but our s much emphasi Neither Fra: through the U both were una offered any ti alcoholism. Bo chapter of Alco help. But the Univ According to director of .the Services, the programs avail drinking proble he says, is th drinking probl help. "I think the successful for I them. The tr( drinkers don't they're having do, they oft programs that them." Both Korn a director of can campus resid similar difficul Both say that substantial effi seling and refe sonnel are neit "It's ultima prerogative to chooses," sa: student's drink fere with an ultimately his c "As a society to recognize p liberties, their know as profes are destructive only answer to is that we wi educate people, these kinds of ti "Alcohol has venient a sub avoid dealing issues in their our society is so would be hard way to help p But part of wha stress levels i everybody els it's that kind s likely to push socialdrinker drinker." Another stuc "Drinking has c he said. "I'm d school-wise, bu jobs are plenti wasted my tin being a master good time, bu wasted my time Charles Thom: Daily's pini Campus fun: More beer - - -0~.~................-..11 Wee