A state representative is considering legislation that would ban drinking alcohol in living groups on college campuses and provide for harsher penalties when groups violate that law.

"One reason for state law is to provide uniformity across the state and to assure the fraternities, sororities and alumni that we're serious," said Rep. Fred Perry, R-Tulsa.

Perry announced his intentions to draft the bill on the heels of the alcohol-induced death of OU freshman Blake Adam Hammontree on Sept. 30 at the Sigma Chi fraternity house. Perry said Hammontree's death motivated him to take action.

"We are in the beginning stages of determining if anything should be done in this area, and I'm leaning very much toward making it a state law against having alcoholic beverages in living groups," Perry said.

A bill has not yet been drafted, but Perry said his legal staff is researching the issue. If a bill does result, Perry said he expects many people will support the bill.

"I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of support among legislators for doing something about this problem," Perry said.

Perry said he sent a letter to OU President David L. Boren in which he outlines his support for dry campuses and greek houses. Perry said he also sent a copy of the letter to the 20-member alcohol panel that Boren formed shortly after Hammontree's death.

Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said he didn't think passing laws would solve the alcohol problem, as demonstrated by the failure of Prohibition, which outlawed the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the United States from 1920 to 1933.

"Any meaningful change regarding alcohol is going to have to come from society as opposed to laws," Kuykendall said.

A law must also be enforceable, he said.

Some OU students had conflicting emotions about the potential bill.

"I think it's a bad idea," said Tim Morrison, pharmacy junior. "I think dry campuses would increase drunk driving, which would create more accidents."

University College freshman Randi Burns shared Morrison's concerns about drunk driving.

"It would be really scary knowing some of those kids are on the street drunk," Burns said.

Whether matter if the bill passes or not, college students will continue to drink, she said

"I think kids are going to party no matter what, and I think at fraternity parties at least you know you can get back [without driving]," Burns said.

On the other hand, Kat Wilson, psychology junior, said she thought Perry's proposed bill would be a good idea.

"In light of recent events, [a dry campus] is better for everyone's welfare as a whole," she said.

Wilson said she thought the bill, if passed, would cut down on underage drinking, as well as sexual assaults and alcohol-induced deaths.

"I think it would change the culture on campus," Wilson said.

Allowing alcohol in fraternity houses gets in the way of academic performance and makes alcohol available to underage members, Perry said.

"Parents are not sending their kids [to college] to drink in the [fraternity and sorority] houses," he said. "[Parents] expect those houses to be places where [students] can study, and by having alcohol available in houses, you are undermining the whole educational aspect of school."

As a former president and former alumni board member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the University of Kansas, Perry said he is not anti-greek.

"I'm a big believer in fraternities," he said. "I think they're a great institution... but not when alcohol is readily available."

Perry is weighing various penalties for punishing those groups who drink alcohol on a dry campus, he said.

Penalties under consideration include a 10-year ban of a fraternity in the event of a death of a member due to alcoholic consumption in the fraternity facility, and graduated penalties for lesser negative outcomes, Perry said.

Measures of enforcement for the bill could include spot checks by the campus police and the Alcohol Beverage Law Enforcement commission at fraternities and sororities to see if drinking is going on, he said.

OU's permissive alcohol policies have contributed to the alcohol problems on campus, Perry said.

"I mean, the university knows [alcohol consumption is] going on and they may have education programs, but they don't seriously enforce it," Perry said. "f they would just say to each one of the [greek] chapters, 'Look, if we find that you have drinking going on in your houses, we're going to suspend your house for a year. You can not function. You can not open doors.' If they do that... then those houses will discipline their own members and I guarantee you [drinking in houses] will stop."

The argument against Perry's bill, which is that banning alcohol in fraternity houses will push the problem off campus and result in more drunk driving, makes no sense, he said.

"That's a bogus argument that doesn't make any sense at all," Perry said. "That's just hair-brained, in my opinion, to say that [banning alcohol on campus is] going to push it out somewhere else. By making it more plentiful, we're saying we're helping the problem."

Students who drink in the fraternity houses are just as likely to go driving as students who drink off campus, he said.

"For the university to say, 'Well, let's just let [students] have [alcohol] because they are going to go out and drive, that is very poor policy, Perry said.

To curb the alcohol problem, universities must enforce alcohol policies, Perry said.

If universities don't step in and enforce alcohol policies, alcohol will be readily available in fraternity houses to whoever wants it, Perry said.

"That's how that young man [Hammontree] came to drink as much as he did," he said. "Obviously, of-age students provided [alcohol] to him. It was obviously readily available in that house. Had it not been readily available, then that young man would probably be alive today."

Perry said he will know for certain by the mid-December if he will propose the bill.