Irish fight for right to drink

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A day after University of Notre Dame administrators proposed a tighter campus alcohol policy, about 500 students marched in a rally to protest the changes.\nChanting "We want a voice," the students gathered on campus Wednesday to denounce the new policy. Student government leaders vowed to convince administrators to listen to student concerns.\nSeveral students burned copies of du Lac, the handbook of student regulations.\nThe university announced the proposed changes Tuesday, citing a campus study that found many students had engaged in abusive drinking.\nThe new policy would ban hard liquor in residence halls and eliminate traditional in-hall dances.\nThe proposal is designed to encourage more responsible attitudes toward use of alcohol and to adhere to Indiana law, said the Rev. Mark L. Poorman, Notre Dame's vice president for student affairs.\nAbout 80 percent of Notre Dame's 8,000 undergraduate students live on campus, and some students said elimination of in-hall dances would detract from the university's residential character.\n"Dorm life: Ain't broke, don't fix it!" read a sign on a bedsheet hung outside one hall.\nSophomore Julia Schmidt said she did not drink but believed the changes were unnecessary.\n"Having more dances off campus means students will just drink a lot more before," she said.