Last month, Hula’s Bar and Grill knowingly violated the rules of the California State University system by designing and purchasing ads for its grand opening party that promoted alcohol consumption, but lacked a message of responsible drinking, members of the Sacramento State Alcohol Advisory Council said.

Executive Order 966 from Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the CSU system, spells out regulations on the advertising and sale of alcoholic beverages on campus.

The 2005 document states that any on-campus advertisements for alcohol must include messages about drinking responsibly, and also prohibits “drink specials” and “happy hour” promotions.

School employees, students, coaches and faculty members are prohibited from participating in activities that promote alcohol-related messages, according to the executive order.

“We didn’t ignore what they told us,” said Reggie Leipsic, owner of Hula’s Bar & Grill. “Hula’s Bar and Grill has had conversation with the appropriate parties on campus, and had permission to conduct themselves in the manner that they did over the past couple of weeks.”

Hula’s Bar & Grill, in the Riverfront Center on the north end of campus, was called Hula Dog until the beginning of this semester. The name was changed to coincide with the new availability of alcoholic beverages.

Hula’s Bar and Grill drew the Alcohol Advisory Council’s attention with a banner outside the riverfront dining center with prominent mentions of alcoholic beverages, which led to a meeting between the restaurant and the committee.

Cyndra Krogen, chair of the Alcohol Advisory Council, said that after Hula’s Bar and Grill discovered its banner was in violation, eatery employees met with council members and asked for permission to display the banner for two weeks. She said the council agreed to the two-week time period, but was shocked to find that the banner was kept up a week longer than was agreed upon.

She then found an advertisement for Hula’s Sept. 27 grand opening party in the Sept. 26 issue of The State Hornet newspaper. The advertisement included many of the violations she had previously spoken out against.

The advertisement emphasized the words “Extremely Discounted Beers, Coladas and Margaritas,” in large bold-face type.

The advertisement also violated Sac State’s alcohol policy, said Louis Camera, assistant to the vice president for Student Affairs.

“It does not allow any advertising where alcohol is more than 10 percent of the message, the message is supposed to be to come to the event but not because of alcohol,” Camera said.

“My primary problems (with the advertisement) were (the words) ‘Party,’ ‘Come join the party’ and ‘Extremely discounted beers,'” Krogen said. “We know ‘party’ is not used to say, ‘We are wearing hats and throwing confetti.'”

Krogen questioned whether the Hornet should be allowed to run advertisements that violate the school’s alcohol policy, from organizations both on campus and off.

“The biggest thing is that (Hula’s Bar And Grill is) on campus, and they have to be held to a different standard (than bars off campus),” Krogen said, noting that the paper also displays advertisements mentioning alcohol from numerous off-campus bars and restaurants that are also in violation of the policies.

Executive Order 966 encourages student newspapers to follow its regulations, but avoids specifically regulating the press.

“It’s clear that the chancellor’s office and Executive Order 966 recognize the independence of student newspapers, for which I’m grateful.” Holly Heyser, adviser to The State Hornet, wrote in an e-mail. “The tradition of a free press goes to our very roots as a nation.”

Advertising pays for two-thirds of the State Hornet’s budget, Heyser said, with the remaining one-third coming from student fees, which students authorized in a previous election.

The Alcohol Advisory Council was also upset that school staff had been involved with the bar’s grand opening event, a violation of Executive Order 996.

“The person who was working pouring beer as a guest was the director of marketing, who was working off-hours,” Leipsic said.

Alcohol is also served on campus at the University Center Restaurant and Round Table Pizza.

“Round Table is really cooperative,” said Jessica Heskin, a member of the Alcohol Advisory Council and a victims’ advocate for the Women’s Resource Center. “It’s not just that we’re getting on Hula’s case because they don’t come to our meetings, but Round Table has come to us when we’ve had a problem and asked how (they) can fix it.”

The staff at Hula’s Bar and Grill has attended previous meetings of the Alcohol Advisory Council, Leipsic said, though they were not present at the Oct. 9 meeting.

“We were called back in to Matt Altier’s office to discuss some of the mistakes that were made,” Leipsic said. “Whatever mistakes may have happened in the past won’t happen again.”

Round Table and Hula’s Bar and Grill have policies in place to prevent underage drinking, such as giving students a wrist-band upon checking their IDs and watching to make sure only people wearing the bracelets are drinking.

Tally marks are also drawn on the wrist-bands to count drinks, with each student limited to three per day.

“Three beers is plenty. We don’t want people to get plastered,” said Nick Shoman, manager at Round Table Pizza. “We want to be here to quench their thirst, not get them drunk.”

Since opening this semester, Hula’s Bar and Grill has been the subject of two “minor decoy operations” by the Sacramento Police Department, according to a letter from the police department. The bar and grill successfully prevented minors from purchasing alcohol in both tests.

Members of the Alcohol Advisory Council had additional issues with Hula’s Bar and Grill beyond the violation of specific rules.

“I’m offended that we have a business on campus called Hula’s Bar and Grill,” Camera said. “The tone, the name, the layout of the place is (not appropriate) for a college campus.”

Camera was also upset that Hula’s Bar and Grill had neon signs with beer company logos on display, with some facing outside on the walkways.

“It is being run as a downtown bar, pure and simple,” he said.

Many of the signs have since been removed, Leipsic said, with the remaining signs now turned around to face inside the dining center.

Members of the Alcohol Advisory Council had additional issues with how Hula’s Bar and Grill was operating.

Heskin said she was upset to see life-size cardboard cutouts of “scantily clad” models promoting Coors beer. She said the cutouts have since been removed.

“I come with an extremist attitude because most of what I deal with is violence caused by alcohol,” Heskin said. “That whole pairing of alcohol and sex has got to go; 85 percent of all sexual assault involves alcohol.”

Vendors on campus are regulated by University Enterprises Inc., the non-profit organization responsible for managing the school’s business enterprises.

“The alcoholic beverage license process itself (has) excellent guidelines for us to follow because it’s the law, so we do that here,” said David Levy, director of marketing services for University Enterprises.

While vendors are not provided with additional guidelines beyond rules instituted by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, they are still sensitive to the differences between being off and on-campus.

“It (has) been our guiding principle that we are not here to promote the sale of alcohol,” Levy said. “If there is a vendor on campus that has beer and wine or whatever it is, it is provided as a service to our customers. We don’t promote happy hours or have Friday night keggers or any of that stuff for the very reason that it is not appropriate for an on-campus thing.”

Ruedi Egger, the dining services director for University Enterprises, also stressed that while vendors operate under the school’s oversight, they are still independent entities.

“They are independent vendors on campus,” said Eggers. “Hula Dog (has) attended meetings with the alcohol advisory board where clear instructions were given. They took classes and seminars with (the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control), they have been instructed on what to follow. But they are independent vendors. We have to respect their business that they provide a service to the students.”

Levy said he was not familiar with Executive Order 966, but would become familiar with it for future oversight of alcohol vendors on campus.

“It was their first event, but they learned,” Egger said. “It’s not going to happen (again). They have to follow the Alcohol Advisory (Council)…I (told) Reggie (Leipsic) that in the future, everything has to go through our office before something can be printed.”

Despite a rocky start, Leipsic is optimistic about Hula’s future as an on-campus vendor that serves alcohol, and said he would be happy to work with the Alcohol Advisory Council on any of their concerns.

“Hula’s philosophy is (to) serve the students, faculty and staff a quality product, treat them like family, and we just happen to serve beer,” Leipsic said. “But alcohol is not our priority as far as what we serve.”

Avi Ehrlich can be reached at [email protected].