Students, Wisconsin Union take on late-night initiative

“There’s nothing else to do.”

University students repeat this common lament when queried about the issue of binge drinking, associated high-risk behavior and the campus’ reputation as a party school.

But as president of the 2001-02 Wisconsin Union Directorate, Andrew Wallmeyer wants to change this perception. Thanks to the new lead role Chancellor John Wiley has bestowed upon the Wisconsin Union, he will have greater leeway to do so, along with the help from other WUD officers, directors and volunteers, Union staff and many organizations that will co-sponsor events on and off-campus.

“The recent emphasis on providing options to high-risk behavior allows us to showcase what the Union has been doing for the past 75 years. No one is better equipped to do this type of programming,” Wallmeyer says. “Obviously, we’ve got a good start, but when students say they drink because ‘there’s nothing else to do,’ it is a direct challenge to take what we already do well and do it better.”

With increased funding, awareness and interest by other campus organizations and the mandate from the Chancellor’s office, WUD and the Union are poised to expand programming and publicity which began to take shape several years ago.

The first big no-alcohol event of the academic year will be the Memorial Union Bash, Saturday, Sept. 1, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Aimed toward new students, the free event features live music, a climbing wall, dance lessons, pottery, yoga and more. Beer sales will end at the Rathskeller, Stiftskeller and Games Room at 8:45 p.m.

Grants from the UW Foundation coordinated with the RWJ Project will continue and be expanded to include other campus organizations such as University Housing and Wisconsin Alumni Student Board as well as co-sponsors like University Book Store at venues such as Luther’s Blues. Last spring Luther’s hosted several all-age shows in a non-alcohol environment as part of this initial effort and will continue to do so this year.

“Luther’s has agreed to host four shows with live entertainment each semester,” says Linda Stitt, acting assistant director-social education at the Wisconsin Union. “Various co-sponsors will allow us to subsidize the first 500 students who will also receive $3 worth of ‘blues bucks’ to spend on non-alcohol beverages or snacks. After that, the cover is $3, with the blues bucks included.”

Luther’s will host this event the first Wednesday of every month each semester, except for September, which will be on the 12th and co-sponsored by UW Housing. A campus liaison will assess the program’s effectiveness.

“One of the ways we hope to improve is through closer collaboration with other campus organizations,” Wallmeyer says. “This new late-night programming initiative offers the perfect opportunity to work with groups from across the university to develop more and more appealing student programming.”

Last year’s efforts succeeded in drawing students, according to Robyn Traub, who was the WUD special coordinator for late night programming in the spring. “We stepped in after realizing that there is a need for late-night programming that gives students an alternative to just sitting around and drinking at a bar or at a house party. Events were a success because they proved that everyone could have fun even on a weekday — without alcohol.”

In this regard, Wallmeyer cautions the need to keep the success with the Luther’s program in perspective. “The vast majority of students do not drink on those nights, so Luther’s cannot realistically represent a successful alternative to high-risk drinking. Still, Luther’s represents a lot of very good things, most notably an important trial in working with groups and venues outside of the UW structure. I think those are the kinds of ideas we should be pushing.”

As coordinator for the RWJ Project at the UW–Madison, Sudi Ceglarek works with a broad campus-community coalition to reduce the consequences of alcohol misuse among students by offering options to house parties and bars.

“Providing viable late night alternative programming which gives students venues where they can socialize and meet new people is an important part of this model,” Ceglarek says.

Not that students aren’t going to experiment with alcohol even when myriad other activities are available. Campus officials are trying to be realistic about the allure of house parties and alcohol use.

“To many of our students, the draw of house parties supercedes any programming,” says Kevin Helmkamp, assistant resident life director of the Southeast area residence halls. “They go to them because they like the atmosphere. Even so, late-night programming ought to continue to be developed and promoted because that is what the university should be doing. Many students report that they like the late-night programming — the music, the movies, etc. — then they go to house parties afterward.”

Knowing that many students will at least experiment with going to house parties, Helmkamp says that they should go informed to help ensure their safety.

“We are going to be talking to residents about safety watching their drinks, monitoring drinking, go in groups, come home in groups,” he says. “We’ve never done this type of education as formally as we are now. I think of it as more of a problem of binge thinking, instead of binge drinking. Moderation is not part of a normal 18-year-old’s lifestyle. So we are addressing these issues with students ahead of time. ‘Here’s what you should know about this type of behavior and how it will affect you.’ We think it’s better that students know beforehand that swallowing ‘jello shots’ are problematic than realizing this after the seventh one.”