Upua assembly 14jan2009 :: 0:20:35 to 0:21:43
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0:18:59 to 0:25:49( Edit History Discussion )
Title: Ben Novak

Former Penn State trustee and student government president Ben Novak addressing UPUA on student drinking.

0:19:55 to 0:20:35( Edit History Discussion )

Now those of you who've heard me know what I'm talking about. I usually carry around a little book called the Laws written by Plato 2,500 years ago. You can't get too much older than that for written records. Here I am, quoting this, and saying "you should should listen to somebody who wrote a book 2,500 years ago." So I'm definitely talking about old things, and I'm definitely talking that "there's something in there to learn." It sounds like it's half-justified that I'm talking about the past sometimes. Well, let me tell you a story about that.

0:20:35 to 0:21:43( Edit History Discussion )

In early December I had lunch with the mayor of State College borough, William Welch. Now if any of you were following the Collegian last fall—I wasn't here [in the fall], but before that I followed the Collegian for the past couple of years—you'd find that you would get the impression that Bill Welch really doesn't like students, and that Bill Welch is the [co-]chairman of President Spanier's Alcohol Task Force designed to harass the daylights out of you on drinking. He was in favor of the 'tap tax', that tax that would have put a 10% tax on every drink bought in State College, and a lot of other things. So this is the man I'm talking about. When it comes to alcohol and soforth, he's been very, very critical of students, and very in-favor of the harshest reactions to student drinking back then. Many of you have been very upset with many of the things he has been for.

0:21:43 to 0:22:21( Edit History Discussion )

I'm saying all of this to get clear in your mind who I'm talking about, William Welch, the mayor of State College. So I went to lunch with Bill in order to talk to him about a new approach to student drinking. What I was going to talk to him about was Plato's argument that drinking parties were essential to higher education. Essential to the working of the University. That they were important, that they were to be cultivated, not abolished. I had my book of Plato with me (I meant to bring it tonight but forgot).

University Park Undergraduate Association Student Assembly 14-Jan-2009 Meeting

Adopted from: http://www.archive.org/details/upua_assembly_14jan2009

Academic and administrative discourse related to The Pennsylvania State University.

Student Assembly,
University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA),
The Pennsylvania State University

Meeting held 8:13pm on 14-Jan-2009
302 HUB, University Park, Pennsylvania
http://assembly.upua.org/record/

A listing of other University proceedings is available:
"Penn State University" AND "open meeting"

This is a private recording of an open-to-the-public event.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent
those of The Pennsylvania State University or other
participants.

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