After receiving recommendations from the A.S. Council and other campus administrators in favor of the creation of a beer garden at this year’s Sun God festival, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson has decided against the idea, calling for more safety efforts during the festival.
Watson also rejected the University Events Office’s recommendation to commit to the approval of a beer garden for next year.
“We were under the impression that if we applied ourselves toward safety concerns, we would be able to have a beer garden,” said former A.S. President Jenn Pae, who lobbied Watson to approve the plan. “To have the idea be rejected was very sad.”
Watson, however, said he felt a beer garden would only worsen an already strong theme of alcohol during Sun God.
“I’m not opposed to a beer garden, and we have no objections to it,” he said. “Sun God is a very distinctive and special event. But everyone, even A.S. members, has acknowledged that there is already a lot of drinking during Sun God. A beer garden should be done safely and only when it doesn’t contribute to an atmosphere that emphasizes the drinking of alcohol and risky behavior.”
Pae said her plan would have curbed alcohol abuse during the festival by offering a controlled environment for consumption. The proposed garden established a limit on drinks per person, an identification system, 18 private security guards, two UCSD police officers and a fenced area on RIMAC Field. The A.S. Council’s recommendation to operate the beer garden at night would have alleviated binge drinking during the day, according to Pae.
“Because students don’t have a venue during the evening for alcohol, they try to have as much alcohol as possible for a lasting effect during our night concert,” she said. “If we had a beer garden at night, students could enjoy alcohol, but in a more responsible manner.”
Though it withheld its support from the plan, UCSD Police Department expressed an understanding of “the desire of event sponsors or venues to serve alcohol to responsible adults,” the department stated in its recommendation to Watson.
“Although we do not ‘encourage’ or ‘endorse’ beer gardens, we feel there would be events better suited to their successful ‘piloting’ than the Sun God festival,” the statement said.
UEO also advised against a beer garden during this year’s festival. Precautions for alcohol use need to be fully applied before operation of beer gardens, the office stated in its recommendation.
“In recognition of the ‘growing’ awareness of alcohol use during the day — and sometimes prior — leading up to the concert, A.S. Programming and UEO staff have developed a number of proactive measures that begin to address the culture of alcohol consumption at this event,” the UEO recommendation stated. “It is the firm belief that the listed strategies must first be fully implemented, in order to seriously consider the possibility of a beer garden during the evening concert.”
The office recommended that Watson approve a beer garden next year, when the measures were firmly in place.
Pae said the precautions to highlight safety and control alcohol consumption justified a beer garden for this year’s Sun God festival. Measures proposed by the council and UEO included the prohibition of alcohol and alcohol-related merchandise, a designated-driver program and increased staffing and security. Watson accepted all of the proposed “proactive measures.”
“I feel disheartened that all of these security measures were taken out of safety concerns, [but] a beer garden was still not approved,” Pae said. “If it’s not going to happen this year with all of these proactive actions taking place, when will it?”
With over 40 percent of students of drinking age, the UCSD population would have been able to more fully enjoy the festival with a beer garden, according to Pae. During previous meetings, although Watson was not enthusiastic about the prospect of serving alcohol at the event, he was not opposed to the idea, Pae said.
“A.S. did everything in our power to make Sun God a safe event regarding alcohol,” she said. “We were under the impression that if we took these measures, a safe beer garden would be accepted.”
Watson maintained that while he is not against a beer garden, Sun God is not yet safe enough for such an operation.
“I’m not opposed to the principle of a beer garden,” Watson said. “But safety comes first, and a beer garden does not contribute to that under the circumstances.”
