University of Wisconsin-Stout administrators hope students will spend less time hungover and more time in class on Fridays this fall as a part of a package of initiatives to combat alcohol use on the campus.

The university is currently working internally and with city representatives to explore the bundle of possible tactics announced last month by UW-Stout Chancellor Charles Sorensen after a series of student deaths linked to alcohol in recent years. The initiatives include more classes on Fridays, beer keg registrations and a push to make drink specials at city bars illegal, among others.

There have been six student deaths in the last two years related to alcohol use, including a drunken driving incident last month that ended in the death of one student and the arrest of another, according to UW-Stout spokesperson Doug Mell.

“I firmly believe that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to pursue all reasonable avenues to address alcohol abuse by our students. Many of our students do make responsible choices regarding the use of alcohol,” Sorensen said in a statement issued to all UW Stout faculty March 30.

UW-Stout Dean of Students Joan Thomas said the Friday class initiative, which will begin for the 2010-11 academic year, targets Thursday night drinking. However, she said it makes more time for students to schedule what they need for a degree.

UW Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Aaron Brower said he looks forward to seeing if the expansion of classes on Friday will work for UW-Stout, adding he looked at a similar plan for Friday classes at UW. He said the university determined the deciding factor for whether students drink on Thursdays is not the amount of classes scheduled, but whether there is some consequence for skipping class.

UW-Stout also plans to lower drinking on campus by lowering city and university tolerance for underage drinking. Numerous underage drinking citations may be grounds for expulsion in the future, Mell said.

This week, UW-Stout administration met with Menomonie Mayor Dennis Kropp to discuss how the city and university can work together to make beer keg registration and outlawing drink specials a reality.

Another initiative will push the city to have harsher punishments for hosts and guests of big house parties.

“The plan is to get all of these in place by the start of next school year — September 2010 — and a lot would be determined by the reaction of the city council and the mayor,” Mell said.

There have been no official discussions on the initiatives with City Council, Thomas said, but administration has met with the Tavern League to talk about how they can collaborate to solve a problem both institutions have — lots of students with fake IDs.

Although the initiative announcement is recent, Thomas said there have been ongoing discussions with members of the Menomonie community to combat dangerous student drinking habits. Mell said the initiatives were met with mixed reviews, but it was expected the decision would not be popular with some students.