The university’s Interfraternity Council voted unanimously last month to enact the ban, which goes into effect Aug. 1. It won’t affect fraternity events at a restaurant or hotel in which alcoholic beverages are provided by a third-party vendor.

The council’s president, Justin Henry, told the Lincoln Journal Star that safety concerns are behind the decision. More than 90% of alcohol-related trips to hospitals from fraternity events are caused by the consumption of hard liquor, Henry said. The cutoff is anything more than 30 proof, which leaves wine and most beers still on the drink menu.

Henry said he saw “outrageous behavior” during parties before Nebraska football games when he was a freshman member of Alpha Gamma Sigma.

“I don’t think that you will see that if there’s no hard alcohol present,” he said. “I think (the ban) eliminates a lot of the risky behavior, if you will, that comes along with that.”

Unlike the fraternities, Panhellenic and national sorority chapters don’t allow any alcohol at sorority events. Andrea Harris, president of the university’s Panhellenic Association, said sorority recruitment in August will include education on the fraternities’ new rules.

An attempt to ban hard alcohol at fraternity events three years ago failed within weeks, mostly because of a lack of enforcement, Henry said.

“We will have teeth behind ours in place, enforcement behind it when everyone is under these rules,” he said.

Part of that enforcement will involve the council judicial board, which includes the judicial board chairs of the fraternities. The members are rotated and will be randomly selected for each case.

Matters concerning the ban will go directly to the board rather than through the university, Henry said.

A first offense will result in a notice to the fraternity’s national chapter. A second offense will include a fine and social probation.