The price of University-sponsored kegs will drop by more than 50 percent this year, likely spurring an increase in the number of on-campus kegs, officials and student leaders said Tuesday.
The savings will result from the University's decision to pay for licensed independent bartenders--a responsibility that formerly fell on the student group placing an order for a keg.
With two bartenders required for each event, labor added a minimum of $150 to the cost of the keg, said Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst. The beer itself costs between $85 and $125 per keg.
The program will be financed through Executive Vice President Tallman Trask's discretionary fund, and the benefit to students is estimated to be $10,000 in the first year.
The goal is to increase the number of events that can compete with traditional alcohol venues--not to blanket the campus with more drinking, said Duke Student Government President Elliott Wolf, a junior, who worked on the changes during the summer.
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Wolf said administrators concluded that keg events were a relatively cheap way to bring students together.
"It's not just a normal section party with an additional distribution point," Wolf explained, referring to events frequently hosted by fraternities and selective living groups that are technically bring-your-own-beer.
One unanswered question, however, is whether the cheaper kegs will lead to more drinking on West Campus, where the majority of residents are underage.
"There are always students who manage to get a beer or two," Wulforst said. "I can't just hire more people and have them walk around with coats on that say 'beer police.'"
Wolf expressed a similar concern.
"University bartenders do card-how adept they are at spotting fake ID's is not my concern," he said, adding that he is trying to attract graduate students to be bartenders as another point of savings.
Other administrators said the undergraduate alcohol policy has not been changed and that previous penalties for underage consumption remain.
"Students need to have the opportunity to develop their social life in a responsible and respectful way," explained Provost Peter Lange. "This policy seems entirely consistent with that."
Trask laughed at the idea that inexpensive kegs by themselves could transform social life.
He said he was motivated more by a sense that the old policy was "annoying" and puts too much of a burden on student groups.
"It costs enough to go here as it is... I've been trying for years to stop nickel-and-diming student organizations," Trask said.
With the lower price, there will be more orders from students who have complained about the bundled price of bartenders and kegs in the past, Wulforst said.
The subsidized bartenders will have greatest impact on student groups who already have events or speakers planned and who are now able to add beer to the equation, Wolf said.
The discounted price is part of an array of changes that students will see to campus social life in the upcoming year, said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs.
Although he declined to name specific initiatives, Moneta noted that there cannot be a static approach to alcohol on a campus with such a range of ages.
"I have no problem with our alcohol policy--I have no problem with enabling students to drink," he said. "This will not be an opportunity for underage students to drink even more."
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