Students at Memorial University of Newfoundland are upset after resident officials decided to ban beer companies from sponsoring student house events this semester.
Previously, breweries such as Labatt and Molson gave free drinks to dorms in exchange for being the sole beer supplier at these events. However, with an estimated 64 per cent of residents under the provincial legal drinking age of 19, MUN managers brought an end to the sponsorship.
“The concern was that there was too much access to too much product,” Memorial housing director Christine Burke told CBC News.
But cutting off the source of free beer isn’t the only problem. Student Union rep Bradley Russell argued that students would also lose taxi vouchers originally supplied by the liquor companies to promote responsible drinking.
“When I was in residence I was on one of the executives and if students decided to go downtown, instead of driving we used to provide them with complimentary cab vouchers,” said Russell. Talks are underway to lift the ban.
