GSFA limits happy hour

Graduate students were concerned yesterday about the fate of Friday afternoon happy hours sponsored by the Graduate School of Fine Arts, after hearing rumors on campus for the last two weeks that it was being cancelled by administrators. However, Assistant Dean Susan Coslett said last night that the happy hour -- which is held every Friday -- has not been cancelled, but has been restricted to GFSA students and their friends to prevent underaged drinking and to keep alcohol off Locust Walk. "There's a good deal of concern on campus about underaged drinking and drinking on Locust Walk," Coslett said last week. The popular late afternoon event tends to spill onto the Meyerson Hall patio in conflict with a University policy banning alcohol in public places, Coslett said last week. By restricting entrance only to GFSA students, it will be easier to keep the event in the basement of Meyerson, Coslett said. Coslett said she was unaware of problems at the event but, "we have to be very careful about underaged drinking." Provost Michael Aiken and Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson's offices said last week that they had not officially contacted GFSA about the event, although many graduate students thought they had ordered the events to be cancelled. Morrisson said she had mentioned concern about underaged drinking at the event to Fine Arts Dean Patricia Conway informally, however. "We have a task force on alcohol and drugs and they have heard several times of the ease of access to alcohol by underage drinkers," Morrisson said last week. Morrisson added that she understands the importance of the event to the graduate school. "There is no intent to constrain it," said Morrisson. "The happy hour serves a purpose for students who are of legal drinking age and as long as it is carried out [without violating the law, it can continue.]" The happy hour is vital to GFSA because it allows students from the school's diverse departments to gather and exchange ideas, said GFSA student and Graduate and Professional Students Assembly member Ron Koenig. Fine Arts graduate student Ruth Cserr, who coordinates the event, said in an interview last night that she is "perfectly happy" and that nothing has changed anyway because the event is only for GFSA students. GAPSA member Maria Sieira said that only GFSA students could gain entrance to the event because "only Fine Arts students are allowed to be in the building after 5 pm and there's a guard at the door checking IDs for GFSA stickers." "The people downstairs all know each other so if there's someone there who doesn't belong there they'd know," Sieira added. Cserr said that "it really wasn't appropriate" for GAPSA to discuss the event at its meeting last night because it is only an internal GFSA affair and "sometimes other people come but that's because we know them." "It's not meant to be a graduate-wide function," Cserr said. "It's not something that's meant to go beyond the school. GAPSA has nothing to do with it." Students at the GAPSA meeting did not agree with Cserr. They referred to it as an event at which students from departments throughout the University could mix. "It's the only thing on campus where students from all different schools from Wharton to Engineering show up," past GAPSA Chairperson Michael Goldstein said after the meeting. Goldstein added that the concern over underaged drinking is ridiculous because there are no undergraduates who attend or show any interest in attending the event and "less than one block up the Walk are fraternities which engage in [underaged drinking] all the time." During the meeting, Koenig said that there was also some concern and confusion about the legality of selling alcohol and who gets the profits, if there are any, from the event.

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