Massachusetts Colleges Crack Down on Drinking

Boston University’s Backstage Pub no longer serves beer. There’s a two-drink limit at Williams College. And Smith College students charged with underage drinking won’t get legal help from the school anymore.

Students returning to college campuses throughout Massachusetts, where the legal drinking age rose to 21 from 20 over the summer, encountered strict measures to guard against alcohol abuse. Several years ago, the Legislature raised the drinking age from 18 to 20.

A key reason for the crackdown is the threat of lawsuits, according to school administrators. Part of the impetus for new rules at the University of Massachusetts’ Amherst campus was last spring’s refusal by the school’s insurer to provide liability coverage for campus employees serving liquor, said university spokesman Arthur Clifford.

New policies require a guest list for gatherings of 10 or more people. Two-thirds of all guests must be 21 for the party to be approved if liquor is to be served, according to Larry Mannetta, assistant director of residential education at the school. Non-alcoholic beverages must be provided for underage guests, he said.

Other new policies being tried at schools include stricter penalties for campus drunkenness, requiring students to register for events where alcohol will be served, banning open beer kegs at student parties and requiring student identification cards at parties where liquor is served.

Officials at Smith in Northampton have stopped providing legal defense to underage students arrested for drinking or drunken behavior. Moreover, students whose drinking leads to rowdy or destructive behavior are subject to investigation by the Student Government Assn. and may be suspended or dismissed.

“Failure to comply with Massachusetts and college rules will result in the loss of social privileges on the part of individuals or entire houses,” said Smith spokeswoman Mary Callahan.