Brewery's links to uni event at an end

Speights, a long-time sponsor of the Otago University Students Association Orientation Week, will no longer be associated with the annual event on campus, following a move by the University of Otago to ban alcohol advertising and sponsorship.

However, Lion Nathan, which manufacturers Speights, is in discussions with the student association about how it could continue its involvement off campus.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Sir David Skegg, proposed the on-campus ban last year as a stand against New Zealand's binge-drinking culture and excessive drinking by some university students, and it was endorsed by the university council in October.

Neither Lion Nathan nor the student association would say how much the sponsorship deal was worth, but student association general manager Stephen Alexander said in terms of cash it was "not a big deal".

"It is not a life or death situation for us," he said. Lion Nathan was "one of many" sponsors, although they had a long history of association with orientation.

Overall, money from sponsors was "relatively minor" compared with student membership fees, he said.

Lion Nathan corporate affairs director Liz Read said the brewery had agreed with the student association that the sponsorship involvement "could not continue in the way it had" and was discussing how the relationship could continue off campus.

When the ban was first announced last year, the brewery had expressed surprise and disappointment that the university had not consulted with it first.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES