Raphel vows to turn campus into party central


By Dana Crudo
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Brian Raphel came to the UA from California expecting a top-25 party school, but what he got was something else.

"I got screwed," Raphel said about the fact that the UA and Tucson community have tightened the reins on alcohol use on and off campus.

Raphel, a pre-business junior, is running for Associated Students of the University of Arizona president and said he plans to spice things up if elected.

He is running on a platform that includes bringing kegs back to campus and having tailgate parties every weekend in order to make the UA the party school he expected.

If elected, Raphel, a Delta Tau Delta member, said his No. 1 goal would be to make the UA the No. 1 party school.

"School is what we can make of it. Let's make it a kick-ass time; you can only go here for so many years," he said. "I don't understand why people stress so much and get bent out of shape over bad grades."

Raphel said he wants to create a stress-free environment for students by fostering a party atmosphere on the Mall with keg stand competitions.

He also said that by bringing kegs back to campus, people would decrease their consumption of hard alcohol, which he said results in trips to the emergency room.

Although he is still working on getting statistics, Raphel said the number of alcohol-related ER trips has increased since kegs were removed from the UA campus more than 10 years ago.

He said he plans on using his $6,806 salary as ASUA president to buy kegs for the football games so there can be homecoming parties every weekend.

"Mike Stoops is a stud; before, the football games were not worth bringing alcohol to, but now we need to party it up and have the nation's biggest tailgate party," he said.

Raphel, who lives by the motto, "Have fun, drugs and alcohol are OK in moderation and college is where you learn your limits," also said his charisma makes him a prime presidential candidate.

Raphel's other plans include extending the add/drop deadline, changing book buyback policies, increasing parking lot security and creating monitored bike racks.

He said the police shouldn't crack down on student drinking, but should catch the students who constantly steal bikes and car stereos in broad daylight.

He said right now these students have no fear because no one ever gets caught.

"We are paying for the spots; there is no reason that we have to worry about our personal belongings," he said.

As for extending the add/drop deadline, he said it would allow people more time to drop without a "W" and give more students the chance to add the classes they need.

Raphel has accumulated a few "W"s after forgetting to drop classes he no longer wanted.

Mostly, Raphel wants to give the student population the chance to unwind after a hard day's work.

The general population doesn't have responsibilities; they can do things at the UA they can't do once they get out of college, he said.