Editorial_______________________________________

The alcohol double standard

AS THE FRESNO State football season enters its third week, controversy regarding the California State University wide ban on alcohol is taking some attention away from the action on the field.

With the obvious complaints of widespread sobriety aside, the ban has created an atmosphere conducive to sportsmanship and a safer environment for enjoying the game.

And this is exactly the rationale used by President John Welty and Athletic Director Thomas Boeh in deciding to implement the ban before the 2007-2008 season when the Bulldog Stadium vendor contracts expire.

Why, then, is an exception being made for skybox-suite holders? Is permitting those with access to these suites somehow consistent with the “spirit of the policy” as it affects the entire Fresno State football community?

It appears that privileges are being handed out arbitrarily and the dividing line isn’t exactly difficult to see.

Those with enough capital to sit comfortably above their fellow Bulldog supporters are able to engage in activities that the other 39,000 in attendance are prohibited from doing.

In response to critics, the administration has argued that allowing alcohol in skyboxes is a common practice at other universities and that those supplying the alcohol are privately contracted by the skybox-suite holders and not the university.

Yet this amounts to little more than a tu quoque justification. Simply because other stadiums follow a particular policy does not mean that Fresno State should follow suit.

The Fresno State administration should rise above this fallacy of reasoning and ban alcohol consumption for the entire football stadium.

Alcohol for one should mean alcohol for all — and a ban that affects one class of fan should impact them all, regardless of how much they’ve paid for their ticket.

To do anything else reeks of not only hypocrisy in following the spirit of the CSU’s policy but also a certain amount of unfair class privilege.

The fact that skybox owners do not have a history of causing problems for the university in no way excludes them from a policy that, at least in theory, applies to everyone.

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