ST. JOHN’S, Nfld., (CUP) – Good friends and cheap beer seems like the perfect combination for Memorial residences, but a recent complaint to the province’s liquor inspector has raised questions about how they hold their parties.
Currently, Molson and Labatt breweries each sponsor different houses in residence by donating beer and merchandise to the house in return for product loyalty.
These deals have led some students to raise concerns about illegal activities such as the resale of alcohol, and underage drinking.
But Terry McDonald, the residence representative on the student council, says the real problem is that students and administration cannot be frank with each other about the subject of alcohol.
Tracy Barron from the Newfoundland liquor board confirmed on March 22 that they have received a complaint about liquor infractions at Memorial.
“Our liquor control inspector is investigating, but until we complete our investigation we are unsure as to whether there was any wrongdoing,” said Barron.
Ian Chaytor, the community manager with Labatt breweries, said three houses in residence receive a donation in the vicinity of 150 dozen beers per semester.
Jason Hull, the Molson beer rep for the university, says his brewery also offers promotions to residences, such as hats and T-shirts, and a donation of 50 free cases of beer.
Both breweries also offer a purchasing deal to residence of one free case of beer for every four they buy.
“There’s no real written contract-we’ll help out people sometimes,” said Hull. “It’s not a steadfast contract or anything like that, but usually we offer up so much beer and stuff to support us for the year.”
Cletus Flaherty, from the student council, said the breweries usually seek out residence houses at the beginning of the year to make informal deals, but the perks vary depending on the budget of the brewery.
In past years, Molson has dominated the residence scene, but Flaherty says many people have called Labatt’s new deals this year a “really aggressive campaign to try to get themselves back into the residence market.”
The liquor companies give away beer to residence in return for product loyalty from students, said Hull. “The 19 – 25 age is the most lucrative group. . . Those are the ones that are generally out spending money.
“We try to help them and, in turn, we hope that they will buy our product in the future because of the support that we provided them,” said Chaytor.
According to Brian Johnston, director of housing, around 40 per cent of residence students are 18 years old, which is under the legal age for drinking in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Johnston said he is unaware of any agreements between residences and the breweries.
“I hear rumours that there are sponsorships,” said Johnston. “To our knowledge, there’s nothing formal that the university is fully aware of.”
Carson Leonard from student affairs and services said he was also not aware of any special deals between breweries and residences. “I hear some breweries give each residence two dozen beer, but I haven’t seen that and I don’t know,” said Leonard.
Chaytor says from Labatt’s point of view, when they give beer to the house executive, they trust that it will be used properly but have little control over what actually happens.
“We don’t want them reselling it or anything like that, but it’s hard to control what people do with it. There are lots of things that are on the go. . . We can’t be following them around and telling them what to do,” said Molson rep Hull.
McDonald says brewery sponsorship only benefits residence and the companies, and the house executives are careful to handle it in a responsible manner.
“The money’s got to come from somewhere, so if a house has an opportunity to get some free product and sell it, this pays,” said McDonald.
McDonald added that although he is elected to represent residence, he is not a member of a house executive. He said his house usually sells this beer at events with liquor licences.
Robert Solomon is a professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and has worked on the area of alcohol-related liability for 25 years. Solomon says allowing beer companies to make informal deals with students is an extremely dangerous practice legally. “Alcohol policy should unite students and university administrators. Why? It’s the university who’s going to be sued, but it’s the students that are going to die, and be injured. . . These aren’t accidents; this is the inevitable result of our alcohol policies in practice.”
Solomon says most universities in Ontario eliminated brewery sponsorship in their residences after they were found to be legally liable for accidents that happened on campus.
“These kids are being played like fools, to what end? The profits of the alcohol industry. Awfully nice of you guys to subsidize the profits of the industry on the deaths and injuries of young people. It’s an outrage,” said Solomon.
Richard Garlick, a spokesperson for the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, was also concerned about breweries providing free beer to students from a health point of view.
“One of the major controls over drinking is price, particularly for young consumers. One of the few things that stands between young persons and problems with alcohol is that it costs something,” said Garlick.
However, Flaherty does not feel that there is a problem with excessive drinking on campus, and says the residence executives are very responsible.
Currently there are extensive regulations about how parties must be conducted in residence or on campus. Carson Leonard says a group, among other things, needs permission from student housing to hold a party, and has to buy their liquor through liquor services at the centre for student life.
“If you’re having a party anywhere on campus, it’s illegal for you either to have free beer on campus, or to go out to the liquor store and buy your own beer,” said Leonard.
“We really need to be able to be frank with each other,” said McDonald. “These games of ‘What can we tell housing, what can’t we,’ they hurt everybody. In the end, it detaches housing from residences, and I’m not going to lie to you, there’s a strong degree of alienation,” said McDonald.
