A free magazine available at The Beer Store locations across the province has given Aberdeen Street further media hype, prompting protests from Queen’s istration.
In the August/September edition of Chill Magazine, two Queen’s alumni called Queen’s Homecoming’s Aberdeen Street party the “Most Outrageous Street Party” at any Ontario university.
The University istration is upset by both the unwanted publicity for an unsanctioned event and the use of their logo without permission.
Vice-Principal (Academic) Patrick Deane said both the use of the logo and the title demonstrate The Beer Store’s refusal to co-operate with the University.
“In both cases they used the University logo without permission, in addition to doing the opposite of what we’ve been asking—which is to be part of the solution,” he said.
The istration sent a letter to the magazine’s publisher expressing its concerns.
Chill Magazine is produced for The Beer Store by Chill Media Inc. in Oakville. The August/September issue featured a guide to universities, with a list called “Best in Show”. Some other winners were the University of Waterloo for “Hardest Working Students,” McMaster University for “Most Happenin’ Campus Pub,” and York University for “Most Fashionable Student Body.”
Chill Magazine Publisher Scott Stevenson was unavailable for comment, but Andrea Lowe, the magazine’s editorial assistant, said the article was taken in the wrong context.
“It was supposed to be a humorous piece,” Lowe said. “In hindsight we would have done it differently; we want to be clear that we don’t condone underage drinking and excessive partying.”
Stevenson has promised a retraction will appear in the next issue, which comes out the week of Nov. 26.
With the approach of Homecoming weekend, the University’s also concerned about the responsible sale of alcohol at vendors such as The Beer Store.
The company’s manager of communications, Sara Taylor, said The Beer Store always considers responsibility a priority.
“We live on responsible sales everyday, every month and every year,” she said. “Homecoming is no different.”
Taylor said the “challenge number”—the number of IDs checked and rejected—is above and beyond the norm on Homecoming weekend.
She said the store normally IDs people who appear to be under the age of 25, but around a big event like Homecoming they ID more routinely. She said this shows The Beer Store takes Homecoming seriously.
Deane said he hopes The Beer Store and the University will collaborate in the future in taking measures to curb alcohol consumption on Homecoming weekend.
“I’m not quite sure what those measures would be, but that’s the kind of cooperation we’d like to see.”
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