It looks like UT won’t be picking up your bar tab any time soon.
While he could not confirm it at this time, Jeff Maples, senior associate vice chancellor for the Finance and Administration, expressed his doubts that the VolCard would cover alcohol-related purchases when it eventually expands to restaurants on Cumberland Avenue.
“In all probability, no,” Maples said of possible student alcohol purchases. “That’s all being worked out. If you’re asking me right now, then my guess would be no.”
Maples said he believes the VolCard will make its appearance on “The Strip” sometime between late spring and early summer, despite the fact that “there’s a lot that’s got to happen between now and then” in preparation for the student payment expansion. These measures include purchasing equipment compatible with the VolCard, securing contracts with third party vendors, creating new policies and more.
The University of Kentucky, which is also a dry campus, already has restrictions on its student Plus Account card that prohibits the purchase of alcohol or tobacco related products. Yet for in-state rival school and “wet campus” Vanderbilt University, students of legal age are free to purchase alcohol at off-campus sites with their student payment card.
Bo Korpman, a junior in political science and philosophy at Vanderbilt, said the convenience of using his student card to purchase alcohol off campus has improved his student experience.
“If you’re 21, and you want to go to a restaurant that serves alcohol of some kind … as long as you’ve got the money, they’ll take it,” Korpman said, noting Vanderbilt’s Commodore Card is accepted at many popular restaurants and bars in the Nashville area. “It’s really convenient, and it’d be stupid to have any restrictions on it.”
Around Tennessee’s campus, however, local vendors largely agree with the idea of restricting the VolCard’s use.
Helen Morton, owner of University Liquors, views the restriction of alcohol purchases by students as more important than turning a profit.
“It boils down to responsibility and accountability, and being a positive force in this community as opposed to a negative,” Morton said. “The VolCard should not be spent on alcohol or cigarettes.”
As a parent of four, Morton sees the VolCard as a way to create “a positive college experience” for students rather than a way to make alcohol easier to access.
For some, like Scott Frix, general manager of Moe’s Southwest Grill on Cumberland Avenue, the news has little effect on his business.
“I don’t think it will affect us at all,” Frix said, stating only a small portion of the restaurant’s profits come from beer purchases. “It’s not what people come in here for.”
Frix said he sympathizes with the university’s potential decision and understands its hesitance to “enable” alcohol consumption so close to campus.
Frix said: “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that they’re not allowing alcohol.”
