Minnesota State University Mankato President Richard Davenport summed up his thoughts in one sentence Wednesday. "Somebody has got to help wake these students up," he said.
While colleges and universities have always grappled with student drinking, the problem is greater today than it was 10 or 20 years ago, he said. And after a fall that has seen three women die, one certainly from alcohol and one in an accident police believe may be linked to alcohol, Davenport said the school has to toughen up in how it deals with drinking.
"We need to do more than we are," he said. "It's just not acceptable to have a student death due to binge drinking."
On Oct. 30, Amanda Jax, a former MSU student, drank herself to death celebrating her 21st birthday. Her blood-alcohol level reached nearly 0.46 percent. On Nov. 18, Rissa Amen-Reif was hit by a car and killed. Mankato police believe alcohol was involved.
Because of that, the school is developing a plan for how to combat underage and high-risk drinking. Its athletic department will no longer accept advertising and sponsorships from liquor stores and beer distributorships. Relationships with bars and restaurants will be examined on a case-by-case basis.
In addition, penalties for alcohol use in residence halls will be increased. And it is possible that no alcohol will permitted anywhere on campus.
"We need to have a very, very tough policy, something that's even tougher than anything we've seen in this state," Davenport said.
The university, which has rebranded itself and added expanded academic programs in recent years -- has been hurt by the events of the past two months.
"I'm really concerned with the image of the university," Davenport said. "It's not a party school. We're a serious place. We have doctoral programs now. We're in a different league, our prestige has increased and we just can't have these kind of things going on."
MSU students caught with alcohol in the residence halls are put on probation, fined and required to complete alcohol education, even on a first offense. A third offense gets a student booted from the residence halls. Davenport is an advocate of "doubling or tripling" the amount of the fine.
One of his concerns is that current students are believed to drink more hard liquor than students in the past.
At MSU, alcohol is served at some wedding receptions and some special events held at the student center. That may change.
MSU athletic director Kevin Buisman said the school is reexamining its sponsorship agreements.
"We want to see if we're sending the right message," said Buisman, who acknowledged that significant revenue would be lost. "Students are certainly one of the audiences we target, and we want to make sure we're not sending a mixed message."
MSU competes at the Division I level only in hockey. Because it plays in a city-owned-and-operated building downtown, fans can purchase beer, wine and mixed drinks at concession stands. It is the only one of the state's five Division I hockey programs that allows alcohol to be sold that openly.
Davenport said he understands the desire of fans to have a drink or two while watching the game, and knows it is a moneymaker for the city. He also thinks there could be a middle ground of perhaps limiting how many drinks a patron could buy over an evening.
In the end, he said, many things may have to change.
"As a president, I'm not going to tolerate a continued misuse of alcohol and the high-risk drinking," he said. "We're going to toughen up. We think we have the toughest policies already, but I think we've got to be even tougher."
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