NIC to debate easing ban on alcohol

North Idaho College will start talking tonight about relaxing its campus alcohol policy.

Board members Christie Wood and Mic Armon brought up the topic last month and said community groups have asked them about revisiting the ban on alcohol, allowing for fundraisers that serve drinks, for example.

“Whatever we do, we have to do it carefully and with a lot of forethought,” college President Michael Burke said Tuesday.

He and other college officials drafted suggested guidelines for such a policy. The proposal would allow alcohol to be served on behalf of nonprofit, charitable or civic organizations only, and for events with attendance limited by ticket sales, registration or personal invitations. Also, alcohol would be served only in clearly defined, restricted and controlled areas.

If the board is interested in such a policy, the proposal first must be approved by the college senate – made up of faculty, staff and students – and the president’s Cabinet.

Jim DeMoss, vice chairman of the senate, predicts senate members would approve the policy.

“It seems like a relatively minor event to me,” said DeMoss, a librarian. “It’s not like they’re opening up the campus (to alcohol). It’s still going to be a dry campus.”

When student body leaders debated the issue, they identified clear benefits and drawbacks, President Josh Gittel said.

Rental fees from increased use of the student union building, for example, may help pay off that building and lighten the financial burden on students, Gittel said. Fees for larger rooms on campus range from $88 to $350.

Gittel said he also wonders whether more community traffic would affect facility and parking space for students during the week or whether events would be limited to weekends.

“It just kind of all led to a bunch of questions: How is it going to be regulated? How is it going to affect students on campus? Will it bring more revenue?” he said.

Gittel said he personally has reservations because of the mixed message it sends to students. The student body leadership, however, is generally in favor of the new policy, he said.

The policy of the State Board of Education, whose rules govern Idaho universities but not colleges, served as a blueprint for the college’s proposed guidelines, said NIC spokesman Kent Propst.

The college will not obtain a liquor license or allow sponsoring organizations to bring alcohol; the college will contract out those services, Propst added.

Community organizations that could benefit from a policy change had temperate reactions to the news.

Heidi Rogers of the EXCEL Foundation said her organization hasn’t discussed having its` annual fundraising event at the college. The fundraiser was singled out by NIC board members as the type of event that the college could attract with the policy change.

Rogers declined to speak on behalf of her board on whether it would consider hosting the event at NIC, but she did say Coeur d’Alene is in need of more full-service event venues.

Art on the Green, an annual event at NIC, was another example cited by the board members. Mike Dodge, a member of Citizens Council for the Arts, which organizes the event, said his group has brought up the issue of serving wine at the event but dropped the idea because of the college’s alcohol policy.

But, he said, “if NIC allows it, we will discuss it.”