UW-Madison students are always under attack for their drinking. Usually, the criticism comes from within the university, where administration and faculty are concerned about academic performance. Occasionally, questions arise from within the police department, where despite a penchant for ticketing house parties there is also real concern for the safety of those drunkenly strolling city streets late at night.
Although neither body appears to be winning the fight against alcohol, each is at least genuine. The same cannot be said of Capitol Neighborhoods Inc., which just released a 14-page report claiming to target downtown drunkenness and the crime it creates.
On the surface, CNI's goals appear admirable, though patronizing, considering that the police, the city and the university are inherently interested in preventing rape, vandalism and other alcohol-related crime.
The group's proposed methods are sure to be less than popular, among other things calling for higher drink prices, increased vigilance concerning underage drinking and a fairly aggressive attitude toward cutting people off at bars.
Yet even those measures, if put forth with actual concern for UW-Madison students, would deserve a forum for debate.
The problem, however, is that CNI has little or no connection to the people it is attempting to govern. Rather, its membership, comprised mostly of wealthy, middle-aged downtown residents, is dedicated above all to having a quiet neighborhood, free of the noise and partying that would seem to come naturally to the center of an American city.
In truth, CNI has been working for years to enact conservative alcohol policies that directly affect UW-Madison students, not for the betterment of the campus but for the preservation of a calm and orderly downtown that may or may not have ever existed. Its members populate city committees and were a driving force behind the alcohol density plan that already restricts the opening of new bars on and around State Street.
CNI functionaries, along with members of the media and general public, have also raised questions as to whether clubs should be allowed to play rap music, since it was once a favored boogey man of downtown rowdiness.
Although they cite statistics in their report, it is unclear to what exactly CNI hopes to put an end. At a city meeting in the past, when pressed as to what exactly demonstrated that downtown was out of control, one member complained that people waiting in line at a bar had made fun of his hat.
Obviously, CNI raises some interesting points regarding the prevalence of alcohol in downtown police calls, a figure they put at 70 percent. And some parts of downtown do give way to chaos on the weekends. But a body of cranky adults who come off as finger-wagging parents should not be throwing its hat in the ring regarding campus drinking, nor attempting to end the fun downtown under the guise of helping UW-Madison undergraduates.
If what CNI wants is a shuttered downtown, where members can walk along State Street without the fear of encountering a drunk person, they should say so. Otherwise, they should end their current deception.
