2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographUnofficial 'inventor' removed from board
Mayor dismisses campus bar owner
By Eric Chima
Posted: 4/3/06 Section: News
Scott Cochrane, the owner of several campus bars and the man credited with inventing Unofficial St. Patrick's Day, was removed from the Champaign liquor advisory commission by Mayor Gerald Schweighart on March 27.
Schweighart said he made the decision because Cochrane was unwilling to help stop the binge drinking associated with Unofficial.
"We held several meetings and tried to curtail it, and he was not cooperative," Schweighart said.
Cochrane, who declined to comment on his dismissal, has long been one of the biggest promoters of the annual event and is working to trademark the name. His efforts, while popular among students, fly in the face of what the mayor said he was trying to accomplish.
"One of the main things I was opposed to as mayor was binge drinking, and Unofficial basically encourages binge drinking," Schweighart said. "It was kind of embarrassing to have someone on the liquor advisory commission who was pushing Unofficial."
Schweighart said only one person, the owner of Legends, had applied for the open position, which must be filled by the owner of a campus-area bar.
The mayor will expect whoever takes the spot to help put an end to the binge drinking rampant on Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. But most campus bar owners do their best business on Unofficial, so many are reluctant to reign in the holiday and hurt their own profits.
"It's strictly a money thing for the bars," Schweighart said. "I heard they were charging as much as $10 cover to get into the bars, and some had 2,000 students come through, so that's a lot of profit."
Schweighart said possible future actions to curtail drinking could include banning kegs around Unofficial, notifying the parents of students that get liquor violations and even instituting mandatory exams on that day. A task force will be created to study those options.
"We've got a lot of students, so if you've got some that don't want to be here, that's fine," Schweighart said.
Schweighart said he made the decision because Cochrane was unwilling to help stop the binge drinking associated with Unofficial.
"We held several meetings and tried to curtail it, and he was not cooperative," Schweighart said.
Cochrane, who declined to comment on his dismissal, has long been one of the biggest promoters of the annual event and is working to trademark the name. His efforts, while popular among students, fly in the face of what the mayor said he was trying to accomplish.
"One of the main things I was opposed to as mayor was binge drinking, and Unofficial basically encourages binge drinking," Schweighart said. "It was kind of embarrassing to have someone on the liquor advisory commission who was pushing Unofficial."
Schweighart said only one person, the owner of Legends, had applied for the open position, which must be filled by the owner of a campus-area bar.
The mayor will expect whoever takes the spot to help put an end to the binge drinking rampant on Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. But most campus bar owners do their best business on Unofficial, so many are reluctant to reign in the holiday and hurt their own profits.
"It's strictly a money thing for the bars," Schweighart said. "I heard they were charging as much as $10 cover to get into the bars, and some had 2,000 students come through, so that's a lot of profit."
Schweighart said possible future actions to curtail drinking could include banning kegs around Unofficial, notifying the parents of students that get liquor violations and even instituting mandatory exams on that day. A task force will be created to study those options.
"We've got a lot of students, so if you've got some that don't want to be here, that's fine," Schweighart said.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.