Beginning in Fall 2019, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has banned the use of hard alcohol at campus fraternities. The Interfraternity Council approved the ban which prohibits the use of any alcohol with 15% alcohol by volume or higher. According to an article published by the Daily Nebraskan, the Interfraternity Council president believes that it will curb alcohol-related drinking events.
UNL joins a long list of other universities that have similar bans on their campus. The University of Missouri at Columbia and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities joined the movement to eliminate alcohol that is more than 15-percent by volume unless served by a third-party vendor. These universities are the first to answer the call from the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) which approved a resolution on August 28, 2018 to have all 66 member-fraternities “adopt and implement a policy by September 1, 2019, that prohibits the presence of alcohol products above 15% ABV in any chapter facility or at any chapter event, except when served by a licensed third-party vendor.”
The NIC adopted this resolution to combat the high number of “hazing and over-consumption deaths” that have occurred in the past two years. According to the Council, nearly all of the incidents have involved consumption of high-percentage alcohol.
Alcohol-related deaths at universities across the country have plagued the headlines. Consuming large amounts of hard alcohol in a short period of time has led to serious injuries such as accidental falls or head and neck injuries that often result in death. Hopefully countless lives will be saved by requiring fraternities to adhere to a hard alcohol ban.