University of Wisconsin students could be waiting in longer lines for their favorite bars if a proposed ordinance is passed allowing anyone 18-years-old and older into drinking establishments.

The Alcohol License and Review Committee will be holding meetings next week to discuss changing the legal age to enter local bars to 18.

Reactions to the potential change around campus have been mixed.

State Street Brats Manager Ryan Martin said he thought the addition of underagers to the bar scene would create a different atmosphere in downtown drinking establishments.

“From our stand point, business wouldn’t increase or decrease. But the maturity level is way different — there would be way more fights, stuff thrown around, broken, that sort of thing,” Martin said.

Although Martin projected no economic impact, others feel differently. The greater number of people entering bars could result in a steady financial flow, either at the bar on non-alcoholic drinks or in cover charges.

“It would be totally awesome,” 21-year-old UW junior Joe Barnett said of the potential addition of 18-year-olds to the bar scene. “It would be good for the Madison economy. People under 21 could hang out with their friends who can [legally] drink.”

Barnett also said underage drinking could help bars out economically in other ways.

“Unofficially, bars would probably love it. Kids would get to drink, [bartenders] would just have to pretend that they weren’t,” Barnett said, expecting bartenders would eventually become more lenient in checking identification.

If this responsibility did actually fall on the hands of the bartenders themselves, 20-year-old UW sophomore and part-time bartender/waiter Scott Olson recognized this as one of the drawbacks to the age change. He thinks the proposal could slow service to customers.

Luther’s Blues Manager Mike Haight said wristbands for patrons 21 and above would possibly be used in order to distinguish those of the legal drinking age. Haight also said underage students might actually be drinking less than they do now because they will not be able to buy drinks at the bar.

“Kids are finding places to drink, be it at house parties or whatever,” Haight said, adding the change would provide more social options for students. “In bars there would be more supervision, and drinking would just get them kicked out.

Although he feels the change may not benefit all Madison bars, Haight said an underage crowd could be good for places that do not focus only on drinking, such as music venues or pool halls.

Twenty-year-old UW sophomore Ben Engleman said the change could let bars facilitate cover charges while also pleasing more of the student population.

“Consider the situation in the University of Illinois,” Engleman said. “There you only have to be 19 to get into bars but you have to pay a cover. The cover makes sense for the bar to let the underage kids in since they can’t buy drinks.

Engleman also feels that if drinking establishments should allow underage students in if establishments can prevent underagers from drinking