UiO maintains strict alcohol policy
After a two year trial period, the Learning Environment Committee at UiO wishes to keep the Fredrikke square an alcohol-free zone before four o’clock at the beginning of the academic year. – Not adequately thought through, says the Student Festival.
På norsk;)
FOTO: Brian Olguin
On Thursday, the Learning Environment Committee (LMU) at the University of Oslo (UiO) decided that the practice of forbidding the sale of alcohol before four p.m. during the beginning of term will continue in the future. The Student Festival in Oslo (STUDiO), who serve beer on the Fredrikke square, do not think that this will lead to less drinking, but instead that students will choose to drink elsewhere. LMU’s decision is merely advisory as far as the university administration is concerned, but according to Vice Rector at UiO, Inga Bostad, advice from the committee is taken very seriously.
- I am happy that LMU came to this decision. We have to try harder to create a start to the academic year that has many exciting events on offer, and that also includes those who do not enjoy drinking alcohol, says Bostad, who is also a member of the committee.
For more than ten years, the beginning of term and the big white tent on the Fredrikke square have been synonymous with the «Buddy» week and beer. The decision to shorten alcohol-serving hours on campus by two hours, from two o’clock to four o’clock, was made in 2007. This affected the student societies, including the STUDiO association.
- The consequence of the decision is that there are fewer people on the university area during the daytime, and therefore there are fewer people in the evening as well. Lots of people on campus leads to students being able to explore and discover which offers are available to them, and this clearly has a positive effect on the social environment, says Head of STUDiO, Stig Hornnes.
Festival deficit
The STUDiO festival tent on the Fredrikke square has gone from a profit of 150 000 kroner in 2006 (before the decision to limit alcohol-serving hours was made) to a deficit of between 50 000 and 100 000 kroner in 2008.
- We can clearly see a negative development since the new serving hours were introduced. We think that there is a connection here and that the deficit is a result of the limited serving hours, Hornnes says.
The events arranged by the Student Society at the Faculty of Law, Justivalen and HumAk, are also affected by the decision. These events take place in the city centre, and therefore have to compete with venues that do not have the same limitations.
- This is losing us both money and visitors. To what extent alcohol is an important factor is hard to say, but it is without a doubt an extra selling point, and beer sales are an important part of the earnings of the festivals, states Chair of the Student Society at the Faculty of Law, Karoline Bekkoset.
Bekkoset says that limited alcohol-serving hours will have consequences for the budgets of the festivals.
Beer less important
Vice Rector Bostad is concerned that a good range of activities should be available to students at the beginning of the academic year, including activities that do not involve brown beverages in plastic glasses.
- Many students have an alcohol problem. Studies show that limiting access will lead to less drinking, and I think this is a positive thing, Bostad says.
- Alcohol-related problems must be taken seriously. It is important to emphasize that we are not opposed to the university doing something about this, but we do not think that this way of going about things has been adequately thought through. This decision is not making students drink less, they are just drinking elsewhere instead, Hornnes says.
LMU representative and Leader of the Left Alliance, Thomas Tallaksen, thinks that alcohol is now a less important factor of life on campus.
- It is not alcohol that gets people to stay on campus before four p.m. It is the events that people want to attend, he says.
- I have found the festival tent somewhat dull before, but now I know that things are happening. The only thing that really sets any limitations here is the imagination, but I hope that most events will also be related to academics in some way, Bostad says.
