One step closer to having alcohol in University Union
The new University Union will stay open on Wednesday Nov. 25 until 7 p.m. It will be closed for Thanksgiving break on Nov. 26, 27, and 29, however, it will be open Saturday Nov. 28 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for the football game. Paulina De Alva | Staff Photographer
Lisa Dreher | Staff Writer
Updated Feb. 25, 2o16
Student Government Association took the university’s first step Wednesday in allowing alcohol to be served in the University Union Fuzzy’s Taco Shop with the 19-to-5 passage of the Union Internal Operations Resolution.
The resolution would allow beer and or wine sales in the restaurant to begin no earlier than 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and no earlier than noon Friday through Saturday. Sales will end at 11:30 p.m. and consumption will end at midnight.
According to the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission, students are limited to only two drinks per transaction.
The resolution was drafted last semester while SGA’s Union Internal Operations Committee researched the effects of allowing alcohol to be served within the restaurant. The committee is led by SGA College of Arts and Science senator Aaron Lara.
“I’m excited for the professional and controlled atmosphere that is going to encourage healthy drinking habits,” Lara said. “I feel that there are environments such as Fry [Street] or parties outside of campus where people aren’t taking the time to watch how other people are drinking.”
Some senators were concerned with an increase in crime and assault. In 1977 the regents approved the sale of beer and wine in the Rock Bottom Lounge in the old Union building in a 6-2 vote. The resolution passed Wednesday said the sale of alcohol then “is not known to have caused any alcohol related incidents.”
Those serving alcohol in Fuzzy’s Taco Shop must have an updated TABC membership.
The resolution will be reviewed and changed if needed by vice president of student affairs Elizabeth With and UNT president Neal Smatresk. After any revisions or additions to the resolution, it will be reviewed by the board of regents.
The board will then make changes, if necessary, and the final decision on enacting the resolution. If passed, UNT dining services will work to obtain an alcohol license from the TABC.
According to the resolution, a “vast majority of students had a positive or ambivalent attitude toward the sale of alcohol in the University Union.”
“No one can get excessively drunk [on two drinks],” physics major Abimelec Esmurria said. “Alcohol helps people loosen up a bit. So if no one abuses that I think it would be fine.”
CORRECTION: There was an error in this article, which was printed in the Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, edition of the North Texas Daily. We reported the Student Government Association’s bill to allow alcohol sales in the University Union had to be approved by the Board of Regents before its enactment. That is not entirely true. The Board of Regents did not make any corrections it because it was approved of by the vice president of student affairs Elizabeth With and UNT president Neal Smatresk. The Daily regrets the error.
Featured Image: File Photo Paulina De Alva | Staff Photographer
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