Sober N Clean

From staff reports
Posted on April 3, 2008

Alcohol ads will now be featured in UVA’s Cavalier Daily and Va. Tech’s Collegiate Times after a judge ruled that it was hindering ad sales and that the ads did not persuade students to drink illegally.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented the two papers in the case against the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

ABC regulations stated that a college newspaper is not permitted to advertise beer, wine or mixed beverages except in reference to a dining establishment. However, it was seen in court as a violation of the First Amendment.

The Amendment states that the government cannot solve a problem by restricting free speech unless it can prove that the restriction can or has solved the problem.

The restriction has been in other related alcohol sayings.

ABC banned the running of the ads so that students would not be influenced to drink based on the promotional ads supporting alcohol consumption. However, part of ACLU’s argument was that half of the students reading the newspapers were of age.

The papers will begin publishing those ads once the schools receive an injunction.

source: http://www.thebreeze.org