The sound of bouncing pingpong balls, clank of bottles and crash of cans filled Studio B in Beall Hall last night.

The difference between this party and the ones that typically happen on College or University streets on Thursday nights is that Budweiser or Busch was replaced with Barq’s root beer and the police were there to inform, not arrest.

More than 40 students sipped on mixed drinks and root beer at the Bar Exam, which was sponsored by Kent Interhall Council. The non-alcoholic mixed drinks included Short Islands and

Abstinence on The Beach.

As students socialized and played drinking games such as flip cup, Alice Ickes, crime prevention officer for the Kent State Police Department, quizzed students on their drinking knowledge.

“We’re working with KIC to have a fun event, and hopefully we can make it educational as well,” Ickes said.

Drinking among college students isn’t just a problem at Kent State, it’s a huge problem for the country, said Ickes.

“We’ve done our duty enforcement-wise,” she said.

The Kent State Police Department has been proactive in dealing with the problem through programs, speeches at events and class presentations, Ickes said.

Michelle Lunz, a freshman fashion merchandising major, and freshman journalism major Sara Stephens said the free T-shirts brought them to the event.

The women agreed that programs like the Bar Exam help inform students about the dangers of drinking.

Stephens said drinking at Kent State is pretty typical.

“It’s like any college campus — but some of us are smarter than others about it,” Stephens said.

Contact room and board reporter Julie McKinney at [email protected].