"No Problems" Serving Alcohol at LSC

A cup of Bud Light? $2. A small glass of Trout River Rainbow Red runs for $3. Oh, and some wine spritzer? That will be $2.

This selection and pricing was found at last Sunday's Super Bowl party in ASAC 100, offered by the Campus Activities Board. If you thought it was weird to buy a beer from the same person who makes your daily sandwich at the Stevens Dining Hall, think again.

"The reason why we have a lot of CAB programs is so that students come to our programs rather than partaking in other ‘activities'," said CAB Advisor Kayla Carlozzi. "Where it was the Super Bowl, and two very relevant teams, we decided that because alcohol is big for sporting events, maybe we could provide a cash bar for students on campus. That way, we provided a safe alternative to driving after the game," she said.

Serving and selling alcohol to students is common at many colleges across the country, especially for large events that attract upper-class students. The variety of alcohol sold at on-campus events may be up to the caterer, but first, an application for a permit to serve has to be certified and approved by the state.

According to the Lyndon policy, licensed caterer Aramark must serve alcohol sold on campus by keg.

Jerry Cote, State Liquor Investigator for the town of Lyndonville, said that in the seven years he's been working for the Enforcement Department of the Vermont Department of Liquor Control, he has never had a problem with LSC.

"Aramark has a first class [liquor] license, which allows them to serve beer and wine on campus. They also have a third class [liquor license], which allows them to serve hard liquor. So far, I haven't had any issues with them," he said.

"Lyndonville trustees gave them a blanket approval form, so they don't have to get approval from the town to do events on campus outside the licensed area," Cote said.

Cote also added that Aramark is licensed to only regularly serve in the Stevens Dining Hall. If they want to serve in other locations on campus, they must still submit forms to his department for approval – even though they don't have to inform the town.

"The form basically says who they are, the date, and that it cannot be served for more than five days in a row," he said. The decision of what to serve is made by Aramark, who works in conjunction with the requesting club, board or administrator.

Popularity, however, isn't as high as one may expect when it comes to buying alcohol on campus. Turnout for the Super Bowl event was much lower than expected.

"It didn't sell nearly as much as I thought," Kayla Carlozzi said. "We had about 120 students at the [Super Bowl] party, but only a small amount of them could drink."

Aramark holds a great risk by serving alcohol to college students. If they serve a minor, a lot may be at stake – and it is not something they take lightly.

"There's a lot of fake ID's, so we've got to be careful," said Donna Baldwin, an Aramark employee and licensed bartender. "I've worked many events before where alcohol has been served, but this is my first time serving college students. I was a little skeptical at first, but it went alright in the end," she said.

Her co-worker, Molli Leonard, who is also a licensed bartender, agreed there were no problems and said she "enjoyed the evening."

No other events in which alcohol will be served on-campus are currently planned.