Tabor College’s alcohol policies walk the line
Staff writer
In most college towns in America, rules surrounding drinking are fairly straightforward — no open containers, no underage drinking, and typically no drinking in campus buildings. Otherwise, feel free to enjoy yourself.
Tabor College in Hillsboro takes a stricter approach, prohibiting drinking among students no matter their age.
This is not without contention from students and others.
“I think that they should change it. I think it should be more lax,” said Chris, a student who requested his last name not be used. “I’ll be honest, if I want to get a drink, I have to go outside of town.”
To better understand Tabor’s alcohol policy, it helps to look at the history of alcohol in Kansas.
The Sunflower State has been long enamored with the idea of temperance.
Kansas prohibited the sale of alcohol in 1880, forty years before federal prohibition. After the national ban on booze was repealed in 1933, Kansas held out until 1949 before lifting its own ban.
That stretch of 69 years represents the longest ban on alcohol by any state in U.S. history.
Even after prohibition’s repeal in Kansas, the state was hesitant to accept alcohol into communities. Saloons and sale of alcohol in restaurants were prohibited until 1978, although vendors could skirt around this issue by charging membership dues and branding themselves as “private clubs”.
Hillsboro’s Mennonite roots meant the town was dry even for Kansas. Citizens were strongly in favor of temperance; very little alcohol flowed through the town.
Tabor College, a Mennonite-controlled fixture of the community since 1908, drew a line in the sand from its inception: there would be no drinking among students, period.
As the years passed, Hillsboro slowly became less prudish. The Sportsman’s Bar opened in the ’70s and remained a popular spot until its closure in the ’90s. The bar didn’t sell anything stronger than three-two beer, but it paved the way for others.
In the beginning of the 21st century, Hillsboro restaurants and convenience stores began to sell alcohol, though the decision sometimes provoked ire from older generations.
A liquor store opened on the town’s outskirts around 2009, although Hillsboro’s local Mexican restaurant, Pueblo Viejo, was the first business to legally sell liquor in town. The restaurant has since gone back to selling only beer after being taken over by new ownership.
“People that were coming in to stay didn’t have a place to get [alcohol] in Hillsboro,” Lou Thurston said in 2017, while running for mayor. “Our group of local restaurants stepped up to that, but I can tell you at the time it was extremely controversial. There are still people that will not sit in that side of the restaurant.”
The last five years have shown drinking in Hillsboro becoming more acceptable than ever before.
“It’s been an evolution,” City Administrator Matt Stiles said. “There’s kind of an older generation that had that value set that was anti-alcohol, effectively. And we’ve kind of seen that shift.”
The town’s Pizza Hut, which opened in the ’80s and was forbidden from serving beer due to its proximity to a Methodist church, gained its cereal malt beverage license in 2021 after a Methodist pastor advocated for it in front of city council.
“They didn’t want to interfere with business, which is great,” Nikki VanWart, who has worked at the Pizza Hut for 15 years, said. “Pizza and beer obviously go together.”
Though Dale’s Supermarket, continues its tradition of temperance (“My dad was never ever going to have liquor or tobacco in the store, so we’re not going to either,” owner Dale Frantz said), a law permitting Sunday liquor sales was passed in 2022. And while a beer garden at Hillsboro’s county fair was somewhat controversial when it first popped up in 2019, it has since become a fixture of the event.
“I think the attitude has really evolved. I don’t see people getting into anybody’s face,” Stiles said.
Of course, there still is not a lot of drinking in Hillsboro compared to other towns of similar size. That can be frustrating for business owners.
Pizza Hut soon will be getting rid of bottles and serving only draft beer because of how little alcohol it sells.
“When someone orders a beer here, I’m usually kind of shocked,” VanWart said.
Erik Torres, of Pueblo Viejo, also said his restaurant didn’t profit much off beer.
“We don’t sell very much,” he said. “My wife’s nephew had a Mexican restaurant in Marion. They sold more.”
While businesses may lament the lack of drinkers in Hillsboro, where alcohol policy becomes a larger issue is at Tabor College.
The college’s student handbook prohibits “possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages on or off campus or presence with others in possession or consumption of the same.”
A first-time violation of the rule is deemed a “level two offense” and can result in probation. (Some students also reported that there is a fine for such offenses, though this is not mentioned in the handbook.)
A second violation results in a “level three offense,” which can result in suspension or expulsion. Being host of a party where alcohol is served also constitutes a level three offense.
As a private college, Tabor is allowed to take such a hard line regarding alcohol. It even may take actions which go against the Constitution, such as limiting press access to students, asking that students abstain from same-sex relationships, and searching students’ rooms unannounced and without their presence.
“I think it can create a lot of friction, and I’ve seen that with my freshman and sophomore year,” senior Nathaniel Heilig said regarding Tabor’s alcohol policies.
Junior Porsha Zweifel agreed, noting that Tabor also placed restrictions on intimacy between students.
“Obviously, we wish we were treated more like adults,” Zweifel said. “I’m 21. I wish I could just hang out with my boyfriend when I wanted, and I wish that I could drink when I wanted.”
Freshman Cooper Stokes said he thought Tabor’s alcohol policies were “justified,” but added that “college kids are just going to leave the town and go to a bigger town and drink and party and all that.”
Having students leave town to drink because they’re worried about being caught in Hillsboro, then driving back intoxicated, is the largest problem with Tabor’s ban on drinking.
Multiple students have been arrested for driving under the influence in the past, and current students acknowledged the issue.
“I feel like we’d be safer with alcohol if it was more okay here,” Zweifel said.
She highlighted the 2022 car crash that killed two Tabor students and paralyzed a former student after they crashed into a ditch on their way back from a Wichita nightclub.
“I feel like it’d be safer if they loosened [the policies] here, because then kids aren’t traveling an hour away, and then having a [designated driver] or someone driving under the influence,” Stokes said.
“We’re just going to go behind their back and do it regardless, in our own way,” Heilig said. “Or even in a way that’s unsafe, because we’re going to the cars, we’re going to the other areas that aren’t on campus, but then we’re putting ourselves at risk.”
Tabor’s hard line concerns VanWart as well.
“I think it’s important for them to learn to be responsible. They’re kids, and kids are probably going to drink, and doing it responsibly is the most important thing,” she said. “I’ve been hit by a drunk driver, so I’m super passionate about not drinking and driving.”
Asked whether a less stringent alcohol policy would lead to safer drinking habits among students, Tabor declined to comment.
The city was neutral on the issue. “I wouldn’t presume to tell them how to do their business,” Stiles said.
Strong Christian faith at Tabor means that some students who acknowledge the policy’s danger wouldn’t necessarily do away with it.
Cooper Stokes suggested that the people of Hillsboro come together and discuss revising Tabor’s policy.
“I think it should be a whole community decision, not just the college,” he said.
Asked whether he would keep the policy of student temperance in place, Heilig said, “I would say so, because it aligns with the mission of Tabor College, which is to build up Christian followers.”
“With salcohol not being as accessible, I have, in a sense, found contentment with where I’m at. It’s allowed me to work through some thoughts, some feelings.” Heilig said. “I had an awesome encounter with Jesus my sophomore year here that completely changed my life. However, if people aren’t as accepting or open to Jesus, then they can go all four years here frustrated at what they have to follow.”