PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Stanford University has banned hard alcohol from on-campus undergraduate parties and straight shots from graduate-student parties.
Just weeks before the fall semester begins, and a few months after the sexual assault case, university officials are making it clear to students, things will be different. Though beer and wine will still be allowed, limiting hard liquor like rum, vodka or tequila will limit the possibilities of violence and crime on and around the campus.
"The University does not tolerate reckless drinking — lawful or unlawful — and its consequent harmful behaviors," the updated student alcohol policy states. "The University is especially concerned about the misuse of distilled alcohol products ("hard alcohol"), and the dangers that arise from that misuse."
The policy also dictates students of legal drinking age will only be allowed to have liquor in their dorms in bottles smaller than 750 milliliters. If a student is found to have larger bottles, the student could be expelled.
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The university said the policy change is "a sensible, creative solution that has roots in research-based solutions" aiming to reduce high-risk behavior. In a high-profile case earlier this year, former Stanford student Brock Turner was controversially sentenced to just six months in jail for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman after a party.
Stanford is following in the footsteps of schools like Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and Notre Dame, which have had alcohol bans for at least six years.
Other universities have recently instituted new alcohol policies as well. Fraternities and sororities at the University of Virginia must have a hired bartender at campus parties in order to have any hard liquor, and Dartmouth has completely banned hard liquor since 2015.
