The University of Wisconsin-Stout is working to crack down on excessive student drinking this year by creating a new task force to bring together law enforcement agencies and students.

This semester marks when previous discussions about curbing partying on UW-Stout campus will move to actual projects.

UW-Stout is responding to six alcohol related student deaths within the last two years with an aggressive campaign to fight heavy drinking on campus.

UW-Stout spokesperson Doug Mell said Chancellor Charles Sorensen made this a top priority.

“The Chancellor in no uncertain terms said enough is enough; we are not going to lose any more students,” Mell said.

Part of the new initiatives to curb drinking on campus included the creation of the Dunn County Alcohol Task Force, according to UW-Stout Chief of Police Lisa Walter.

The task force is made up of the university police force, the city of Menomonie Police Department, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department and citizen volunteers, Walter said.

The task force will have patrols walking on and off campus.

It will also be inspecting the bars near campus to make sure they are not allowing underage students in and making sure no one is driving home drunk.

“I want people to go out and have fun downtown, we just do not want you driving home drunk,” Walter said.

Walter said whie they are focusing on underage drinking, they are also looking into the negative consequences of alcohol abuse.

She added five of the six students who were killed were over the age of 21.

The task force performed one of its first duties by participating in breaking up two house parties and issuing drinking tickets to the house owners Monday night, according to a statement from UW-Stout.

Mell said they are trying to go after the hosts of off-campus parties because if they cut down on the number of hosts, the number of people attending the parties will go down.

Walter said it’s important to stop the house parties where lots of students get together and only have to pay $5 to drink all night.

He said these are the events where they run into the problems of heavy drinking.

“We want to make it more difficult for you and 250 of your friends to get smashed in a basement,” Walter said.

Mell said they are not trying to get rid of drinking on campus but to cut down on the serious excessive drinking they see on campus.

“We just had a case over the weekend where two students called the police because another, very intoxicated, student was shouting and throwing his shoes at them,” Mell said.

UW-Stout is also planning on increasing alcohol education available to students, holding more Friday classes with required attendance to cut down on Thursday night drinking and coming down harder on students who are issued multiple drinking citations, even including possible expulsion, Mell said.

Mell explained the Friday class plan, adding research has shown Thursday night is normally the biggest drinking night on their campus, so they hope by having more students who have to go to class on Friday it will lower the amount of students who go out the night before.