Last night I was reminded that there are murderous Muslim hardliners in this country who are determined to wage a sort of culture war against alcohol.

Fortunately (at least so I like to think), their efforts are laughable, and ultimately doomed to failure, as we already tried a "Noble Experiment" called Prohibition, and it failed. So, there's an overwhelming cultural consensus that prohibition of alcohol did not work. And people are responsible for their own actions where it comes to drinking.

Right?

Not so fast, if this story is any indication:

(8/04/07 - TRENTON, N.J.) - Two Rider University officials, including the dean of students, and three students were indicted Friday in the death of a freshman after a drinking binge at a campus fraternity house.

The school dissolved the Phi Kappa Tau chapter Friday, and authorities said the charges should send a message to students and administrators alike.

"The standards of college life, when it relates to alcohol, need to be policed carefully," prosecutor Joseph Bocchini Jr. said.

Not in America. Please, someone, say it's not true!

Looking at the allegations, there's no question that he was seriously drunk. And that he told his friends (what a shock!) that he would be drinking:

DeVercelly's blood alcohol level at the time of his death was .426, authorities said.

Friends of the freshman said DeVercelly, 18, told them he would be drinking vodka during pledge initiation at the fraternity house, The Times of Trenton has reported.

The five officials and students charged were:

-- Ada Badgley, 31, of Lawrenceville, the university's director of Greek life.

-- Anthony Campbell, 51, of Lawrenceville, the dean of students.

-- Adriano DiDonato, 22, of Princeton, residence director and house master of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house.

-- Dominic Olsen, 21, of Kenilworth, pledge master of Spring 2007 Phi Kappa Tau pledge class.

-- Michael J. Tourney, 21, of Randolph, the chapter president.

If convicted, the officials and fraternity members would face a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The prosecutor will not say, exactly. He just remarks the obvious -- that a lot of booze was consumed:

Bocchini wouldn't discuss evidence in detail, but he has said previously that the investigation revealed some of the pledges drank entire bottles of hard liquor in under an hour.

Twenty-three other people face charges of providing alcohol to minors or underage drinking related to the event. Three students also face drug charges after a search of the fraternity house, Bocchini said.

A message left at Badgley's university office was not immediately returned and a home number was not listed. Campbell didn't immediately return a call to his house. Phone numbers for the three university students also were not listed and it was unclear if any had attorneys.

All I can see is a statement that "the standards of college life, when it relates to alcohol, need to be policed carefully." Is "not policing carefully" now a criminal offense? What is the exact charge?

When I was a landlord in Berkeley I rented to students, and plenty of them drank, I'm sure. Was that my fault? How far does this "policing" go? Should the students' residences be subject to search? (Remember, these are not children; they are legal adults.) What is the dean supposed to do, and why stop with booze? If a fraternity threw a party where sex occurred and condoms weren't used and someone got an STD (say, AIDS), would they charge him with "not policing carefully"? Should the dean go into the students' bedrooms and crawl around with a flashlight?

I'm smelling an anti-alcohol, neo-prohibitionist campaign of some sort.

(Either that or Nifong changed his name and got rebadged as a New Jersey DA.)

This is fast becoming a national story. The San Jose Mercury News and the Chicago Tribune have picked it up, and I'm sure a lot more will follow.

These aren't exactly chump charges either. From the Tribune:

If convicted, the officials and fraternity members would face a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Maybe the DA just wants attention after all.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Inquirer has more, but I'm still unclear on how the dean's conduct was criminal in nature:

Bocchini would not disclose the evidence that resulted in a grand jury indicting the five. However, he previously has said the investigation revealed some of the pledges drank bottles of liquor in less than an hour.

The grand jury found that the five "knowingly or recklessly organized, promoted, facilitated or engaged in conduct" that resulted in injury to DeVercelly, as well as William Williams, a freshman who required hospital treatment but survived, Bocchini said.

In the case of the officials, the grand jury looked at the way they handled oversight of the Greek organizations on campus, Bocchini said.

"To Rider's credit - unfortunately, after the fact - they immediately took steps," Bocchini said of Rider's new policies to curb campus drinking, including banning alcohol at fraternity parties.

Remind me not to go into the dean business.

It's getting easier and easier to be a felon these days!

AND MORE: Bocchini hits jackpot makes the New York Times:

The charges against the Rider officials, who were not present at the fraternity house at the time of the hazing, represent one of the first cases in the country in which a university or college official has been held criminally responsible for excessive student drinking.

It is much more common for students, or their families, to file civil lawsuits against the institutions or their officials over drinking, hazing and other student misconduct, several education lawyers and prosecutors said yesterday.

Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., the Mercer County prosecutor, said yesterday that while the charges might not prevent under-age drinking on campuses, they would send a message that such activities could have legal consequences. If convicted of aggravated hazing, the five charged face up to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

"If it doesn't send a message, then colleges and universities are asking for trouble in the future," Mr. Bocchini said.

I don't remember the "sending a message" part.

I could see a partisan organization like MADD wanting to do this, but DAs are not supposed to advance partisan agendas. I might be wrong, but something about the stated goal of the prosecution being to "send a message" to "colleges and universities" sounds like deliberate partisan grandstanding.

MORE: On a more cheerful note, the Times reports some encouraging student remarks:

....several students on campus said that university officials could hardly be blamed for students who drink too much. "If a student chooses to do it, that's not the dean of students' fault," said Hamzah Abushabun, 18, a freshman.

Courtney Allen, 19, also a freshman, said that students had to police themselves and that Mr. DeVercelly was responsible for his actions.

MORE: The Mercer County DA has now acheived international stardom!