AMHERST STUDENT ARRANGES COFFEE BAN AS "PERFORMANCE ART" CLASS PROJECT

AMHERST, Mass. - Some thought Amherst College student Andrew Epstein should
have gotten an A - for annoying - for a class project in which he
engineered a phony ban on campus coffee sales.

With the blessings of college administrators he got campus cafeterias agree
not to sell coffee on Tuesday.

Then, he hung up signs claiming the college had banned coffee permanently,
because of "the alarming rise in caffeine use and the adverse side effects
associated with this drug are seen as a significant public health risk."

Epstein, 22, a senior from Scarsdale, N.Y, called it "performance art."

Some of his coffee-starved classmates called it other things.

The aim of the elaborate hoax, which included a "coffee detox center" at
the infirmary and the sale of "black market" cups of joe for $2, was to
make people think about the nation's drug policies and addictive substances
they use in their daily lives, he said.

Epstein, who is also president of the campus chapter of Students for a
Sensible Drug Policy, said he devised the project for a seminar in "Social
Sculpture."

DeWitt Godfrey, an assistant art professor who teaches the seminar, said
the idea was simple, yet effective, and conveyed Epstein's message more
effectively than a painting or an essay.

"A couple of students were very irate," said Charles Thompson, director of
food services, whose staff bore the brunt of the fallout. Some said they
planned to take their complaints to the college president, he said.

The faculty club refused to participate, prompting Epstein to rail about an
elite group able to skirt the ban without fear of reprisals.

"Finals start next week. I just need it," said junior Michael Nichols as he
paid $2 for a cup of the "black market" coffee.

Other students just walked a block into town for their coffee.

"Some people were up in arms, but I'm surprised at how many people said,
'Oh, first it was cigarettes, now this,' " said Paul Statt, a spokesman for
the liberal arts college.