Yeah, MSU may allow alcohol in the stadium. Oh, excuse me, not in the stadium, but in the stadium expansion. You see, that is a separate structure and can have a separate policy.

Yes, for all those who can afford this luxurious seating, we now must make way for them to drink. And we can justify this because the expansion is not a part of the stadium, but is separate.

Funny, but when we look at the stadium, it all seems to be connected. And I am sure that there are nuts and bolts and girders and steel plating that connect all this together. And I am sure that those in the expansion can all look down on the playing field like those in the rest of the stadium. But by declaring it separate, it can have different rules.

How about if we do the reverse and say the stadium is separate from the expansion? And because the stadium is now a separate facility, it can have different rules and now all the students and ticket holders can drink alcohol while those in the expansion cannot. It is amazing how we can reason ourselves into justifying what we want to do.

There is an old saying: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. There is another about setting the example. We cry and complain about student drinking and then come up with ridiculous justifications to allow "adults" to drink.

It should either be one way or the other: No drinking in the stadium, which means the whole stadium (including the so-called separate structure expansion), or anyone and everyone should be allowed to drink. Fair is fair (there's another saying), those who have the gold make the rules. It seems to fit here.

Ronald G. Hanson
MSU graduate