0:19:24 to 0:19:55( Edit History Discussion )

I want to tell you a story about that: I have been giving talks ever since I came here about the drinking problem, for I see it as the greatest opportunity for student government of the Penn State student body to earn respect of everyone in the community, in the University, among the alumni, and in the media, and to reach the point where student government is listened to with respect and accepted as an indispensable part of the Penn State governance.

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.