School reacts to beer photos
By Laban Pelz
The Collegian
The Nov. 17 USA Today issue with photos showing Fresno State students drinking alcoholic beverages at a football game met criticism from the administration soon after it came out.
One picture, placed above the fold on the front page, was of three students downing beers in the tailgating area before the game. The other, a 1-and-a-half-by-6-inch photo high on the front sports page, showed two men raising their amber cups high in the southeast section of Bulldog Stadium.
“We appreciate that USA Today addressed this very serious issue facing universities and our students but we’re disappointed they chose to single out Fresno State,” said Dean of Students Paul Oliaro.
The front-page photo ran with a story on collegiate alcohol issues, and while several schools were mentioned Fresno State was not.
Oliaro said this was unfair, and cast the school in a light it has been working to move out of.
“They chose to misrepresent Fresno State through its photographs while ignoring the leadership and the successes that out students provide through our alcohol awareness programs.”
The USA Today issue also had alcohol-related pictures on the front pages of the paper’s Money and Life sections, which each had its own story, as well as one photo inside the main section. The subjects were UCLA, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa.
The Wisconsin and Iowa pictures were similar to those of Fresno State, while the UCLA shot showed students at a football game sitting above a large alcohol banner advertisement.
Oliaro said it is possible USA Today chose to go with pictures of Fresno State because of recent national sports-related attention, but said the school’s older reputation may have had something to with it as well.
Graduate student Roberto Vaca, a member of the campus-wide Alcohol Advisory Council, said the pictures will only fuel any idea that a drinking problem exists at Fresno State.
“The fact that USA Today used photos with Fresno State students adds to the misperception that most students drink,” Vaca said.
Oliaro also said the fact that a former Fresno State student, Robert Hanashiro, took the pictures was insult added to injury.
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