Ruling could put alcohol ads back in college newspapers
A federal court overturned a Pa. law that banned paid alcohol ads. Schools and their student papers are assessing the impact.
Look soon for ads peddling alcohol in college newspapers across Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit last week overturned a 1996 Pennsylvania law that barred paid alcohol ads in student papers.
The decision came as colleges and universities are taking steps to curb binge and underage drinking on campuses, which have been hit hard in recent years by drinking-related deaths.
Area college officials yesterday were trying to sort through the ruling to assess its impact, while student-newspaper editors eagerly awaited the chance to draw on a potentially lucrative revenue source.
The decision stems from a lawsuit by the student newspaper at the University of Pittsburgh that said the law cost the paper $17,000 in advertising revenue in 1999 and restricted free speech. In a 17-page decision, the appeals court wrote that the commonwealth failed to show that the restriction was "necessary to discourage underage drinking or abusive drinking" and that the law violated the First Amendment.
Just three other states - Utah, New Hampshire and Virginia - restrict alcohol ads in college newspapers, according to the Virginia-based Student Press Law Center.
"The idea of making it a crime to publish lawful information in a newspaper is just incredible," said Vic Walczak, litigation director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania, which supported the Pitt newspaper.
Several groups concerned about underage drinking on campuses said they feared that an ad splurge would worsen the problem.
"I feel it's irresponsible," said Rebecca Shaver, state executive director of Pennsylvania's Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "MADD certainly feels that our youth are overexposed to alcohol and advertising without adding more enhancement to purchase the product."
But Lucas Murray, editor in chief of the Temple News at Temple University, said the ads would not push students to drink.
"Obviously, a big part of college life is growing up and experiencing different things, and underage drinking is part of it," said Murray, a senior from Hatboro.
He estimated that the newspaper could generate between $4,000 and $6,000 in additional ad revenue from on- and off-campus bars over its 27 issues during the fall semester.
Christopher George, executive editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian at the University of Pennsylvania, said the court's decision made sense. The Daily Pennsylvanian, which is independent of Penn, receives no university money and is distributed free.
"On college campuses, there are a lot of people who are of age, and to take that away from them because of the group who is not" is wrong, said George, a senior from Whitehouse Station, N.J. "The responsible reader can make up their mind what to pay attention to and what not to pay attention to in terms of advertising."
The Daily Collegian, Pennsylvania State University's newspaper, had already started trolling for ads but stopped as it waited to see if the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office appealed the court decision by the Aug. 12 deadline. The office, which defended the law for the state, is still reviewing the matter.
James Young, editor in chief at Penn State, said the area newspaper, the Centre Daily Times, runs a special edition that targets college students and includes alcohol ads. He called it unfair that the college newspaper could not do the same.
The court decision "really evens out the playing field for us," he said.
To compete, the Daily Collegian recently started to run a list of drink specials free of charge, he said. The law prohibited only paid advertisements.
Officials at several Pennsylvania universities were less thrilled with the prospect of alcohol ads.
"Students are dying across the country. They're filling emergency rooms in college towns every Saturday night. This is a major issue that young people are grappling with," said Bill Mahon, a Penn State spokesman. "It would be great if student newspapers covered the issue of dangerous drinking as much as they have covered the issue of running ads for alcohol."
At Penn State's main campus, 259 students in 2001-02 went to a local emergency room for an alcohol-related problem, up from 199 two years earlier, he said.
While he declined to say whether the university opposed the court decision, he said: "We'd much rather see them run ads for pizza."
Henry Wechsler, director of college alcohol studies at Harvard University's School of Public Health, said studies had shown that marketing alcohol at very low prices "is associated with heavier drinking."
He said Pennsylvania universities should consider offering financial incentives to their student newspapers if they forgo alcohol ads.
At West Chester University, the student government association has voted to ban alcohol ads in student publications, including the student newspaper, said Loretta MacAlpine, the school's interim director of public relations and marketing. The university maintains that the student newspaper would have to seek a change in that policy through the student government if it wanted to start accepting alcohol ads, she said.
The university would not like to see such ads. "We would recommend that they consider their audience, the vast majority of whom are under 21 and not legally allowed to drink," she said.
But Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, contended that the student newspaper legally could move ahead with accepting alcohol ads.
At Rutgers University's New Brunswick, N.J., campus, the student newspaper has run ads from local bars and taverns, and editor in chief Theresa Poulson said she was pleased the paper had that right.
"Once you say what can or can't be advocated in ads, that crosses a line that's hard to go back on," said Poulson, who is from Edgewater Park. "I'm just afraid of what kind of precedent that would set for other issues that are controversial."