Let’s drink to another year at good old NU. Or maybe not.

Since you’ve last been here, university officials have booted another fraternity, making it the third to get kicked out in as many years. This means there’s one less place to drink on campus. And it assures a continued exodus of underage students faking their way into off-campus bars.

With an ever-drying campus, more and more students have taken their quests for alcohol to local watering holes.

“Northwestern wasn’t always so bar-oriented,” senior Danielle Broude said. “My cousin is nine years older than I am, and when he was here no one even went to bars because every Thursday, Friday and Saturday all the fraternities would have parties. Now, because the school has cracked down on alcohol in the fraternity system, it has forced kids to go to bars for their social outlets.

“I think it makes the school a lot smaller and a lot more boring. And, it alienates the kids who don’t have IDs or who don’t feel comfortable in a bar setting.”

GREEK HOUSES OUSTED

NU officials have ejected three fraternities since 2000, all for alcohol-related violations. Fourteen of the 17 chapters currently recognized by the Interfraternity Council are dry – meaning no alcohol whatsoever is allowed inside. All sororities are dry, and, of course, alcohol is not allowed in the dorms. This leaves little room for on-campus drinking.

So, students who want to drink are left with limited options – and bars are the most popular pick.

“Since it seems as though NU is cracking down on fraternities when it comes to drinking, the bars have become the main places to socialize and get drunk,” said senior Gabe Lang, a former member of Kappa Sigma, NU’s most recently ousted fraternity. “Downtown [Chicago] is very expensive, [so] most people would rather stay in Evanston, and the bars capitalize on that. They must rely heavily on the dollars that come in from underage drinkers. It’s no wonder you can get in anywhere with a half-decent fake ID.”

And with all the business pouring in, bar owners don’t seem to be rushing to tell bouncers to, well, bounce.

In a guest column last year in The Daily Northwestern, a former 1800 Club bouncer explained that if the rules of who gets in seem arbitrary, it’s because they are.

“My manager was not exactly the pinnacle of communication,” Nathan Max wrote. “First I was to be lenient on fakes, then stringent, then both lenient and stringent at the same time. It wasn’t difficult to decipher who was of age and who wasn’t. It was difficult deciphering who my boss wanted let in.”

Still, bar managers are adamant that they are not willing to put their liquor licenses in jeopardy to appease thirsty college kids.

“We do not let in underage drinkers,” said Tom Migon, manager of The Keg of Evanston, located at 1810 Grove St. “I tell my bouncers to look for a date of birth, and to make sure that the picture looks like the person. Also the city of Evanston has been giving classes to bouncers, taught by the secretary of state, to teach exactly what to look for.”

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