The commonwealth's attorneys had made the same argument in a motion to dismiss the suit shortly after it was filed. Standish removed the ACLU club from the action but allowed The Pitt News component to progress to a hearing for the injunction. In his 22-page ruling two weeks ago, Standish said Act 199 in no way infringes on college newspapers' freedom of the press. Rather, he said, the law bars advertisers from soliciting space to promote alcohol in those publications. In other words, Standish said the law is aimed at advertisers and not the media, so The Pitt News cannot argue a constitutional infringement.
Subsequent offenses carry a minimum sentence of three months imprisonment.
One of the paper's news advertisers, Fuel and Fuddle, was cited for an Act 199 violation in 1997. The Pitt News has also argued that Act 199 is ineffective. According to ademographic study, approximately 75 percent of the paper's total population is older than 21. Alcohol advertising is pervasive on campus in professional newspapers and magazines and on television. A Penn State professor, Jon Nelson, has studied alcohol advertising and found that it does not affect how much people drink but that it does influence brand loyalty.