North Carolina law states that alcoholic beverages cannot be sold in student facilities on the UNC-system campus. But two public universities in Western North Carolina have found loopholes.
On select nights at Appalachian State University hundreds of students gather at Legends, an on-campus venue, to listen to music and drink beer.
In 1985 the university bought the Legends building to provide better late-night entertainment for students. The renovated building was once an 11,000 square-foot Winn-Dixie Grocery Store.
“Boone was a dry town in those days and Appalachian students were struggling to do something socially,” said Dave Robertson, the director of student programs and the student union at ASU. “The university decided to provide a nightclub with nightclub-quality entertainment.”
Twenty-one-year-old students are allowed to bring up to one six-pack of 12-ounce bottles into the facility. Students are asked to drop their beer off at the bar with certified bartenders, who then keep up with the alcohol through a ticket system.
“They take your beverage and — let’s say its beer — they put a number on your six pack,” Robertson said. “They put the same number and sticker on a card. At the bottom of the card are numbers one through six. When they give you a beer, they punch a number.”
Robertson said this policy helps administrators keep students from over-drinking.
“We do not tolerate drunkenness and that’s part of the reason our bartenders are trained. If someone staggers up to the bar or slurs their speech, they are cut off, “ Robertson said. “And we give them back their beer through a pass-out window at the front of Legends.”
ASU’s bring-your-own-beer policy has been in place for 25 years. UNC-Asheville plans to follow in the school’s footsteps by January.
