Beer and Circus by Murray Sperber Page B

and pratically inbred. Arkansas students grow up as Razorback fans and can’t wait to go to college and call the hogs in person. “My family loves the Razorbacks passionately,” a student
confided. To love the university—and [its] students surely do—is to love sports and spirit rallies and calling the hogs.
    â€”Lisa Birnbach’s New & Improved College Book

    Of all mass market college guidebooks in the 1980s and early 1990s, Lisa Birnbach aimed hers most directly at prospective college students, informing them in detail about extracurricular life and the “social scene” at different schools. She mentioned the educational aspects of universities—but mainly in such categories as “Most Popular ‘Blow-Off’ Courses,” and numerical student ratings of the quality of education at their institutions: at the University of Arkansas, students rated “overall academic excellence” as 6.5 (out of 10), and “overall interest in learning” exhibited by students as 5.75. (In contrast, the next school in her book, Cal Tech, received student ratings of 10 and 9.6 in these categories but, predictably, low ratings for “leisure opportunities” and social life. Birnbach’s ratings, although not scientific, did indicate the way students in her extensive polling regarded different aspects of their universities.)
    Of much greater interest to her readers than the academic ratings were such observations as: “long known as a party school,” at the University of Arkansas, “liquor flows fast and steady on and off campus, and despite a state ordinance against underage drinking, no one lacks for opportunities to imbibe.” Birnbach frequently interspersed her commentary with quotes from students: an Arkansas undergrad stated, “‘Many people [here] party and party often,’” and another claimed, “‘The worst thing about the school is sometimes there are too many parties,’” and it’s hard to choose which ones to attend. Birnbach’s guidebook also discussed the role of Greek organizations on each campus. At Arkansas, about 20 percent of undergraduates belonged to them, but “they infiltrate everything,” setting a collegiate tone for the university.
    Obviously, college sports, partying, and Greek organizations had existed for many generations at the University of Arkansas before Lisa Birnbach visited the campus; however, the main difference between the old fun and games and the 1980s rise of beer-and-circus was the corporate nature of the latter. In this decade, national brewers greatly increased their advertising in the campus newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler , and in the local/ regional paper, the Northwest Arkansas Times , as did local beer distributors and liquor stores. Additionally, the local outlets, aided by the national brands, promoted their products much more aggressively than ever before with a plethora of marketing gimmicks, including below-cost specials and paraphernalia giveaways. Moreover, the University of Arkansas, also becoming
more corporate, sanctioned beer-and-circus in various ways, e.g., allowing its alumni association and athletic department to escalate such alcohol-drenched events as the tailgate barbecues and parties before and after football games and, with the rise in the rankings of the Razorback basketball team, before and after b-ball contests.
    The Arkansas administration also tried to link the school with the national sports media, encouraging its athletic department to court the national networks in every possible way, for example, agreeing to start contests at whatever hour they requested, no matter how inconvenient to students and other fans. The school also ended its historic association with the Southwest Conference and moved to the SEC, mainly for the increased TV coverage and payouts (throughout this period, the athletic department consistently lost