Arguably one of the worst things a college student wants to hear on a night out: “Last call, finish your drinks.” Could bartenders be saying these very words even earlier in the future?

All bars and clubs have to have a closing time, most places around the United States have that time set at around 2 a.m. West Virginia’s last call is 2 a.m or 3 a.m with a club license, which is uncommon.

In November of 2017 the Morgantown City Council discussed a possible change for last call. City Councilor Ryan Wallace said, “The topic was brought up as a way to improve High Street by limiting some of the bar-related incidents, alcohol-related incidents that happen late at night.” If you’ve been on High Street on the weekends past midnight you know exactly what Wallace is talking about. Obviously the later bars stay open the more intoxicated people get, causing more students nights to end with talking to the police.

The Council ultimately reached a decision to not change the last call time, due to some interesting reasons. It seems as if Morgantown officials are more concerned with the impact it would have on the revenue of these bars and clubs, and not the safety of residents and students. More than 10 different businesses were represented during the meeting all which spoke out against the idea. Local attorney Micheal Cardi said. “It’d be a 50 percent decrease in revenue if the bar closing time moves up by two hours.” Business owners that spoke to him also said that closing even an hour earlier would cause businesses to lose a quarter of total business revenue.

Of course, there are still plenty of people out there concerned with alcohol related incidents and believe a last call change would help the problem.

Morgantown is not the only college town that has opened up on the idea of making last call earlier. Columbia, South Carolina, the city home to the University of South Carolina has explored its options in creating a safer environment for college students. According to popular college review website Niche.com USC was given a A+ party scene grade, the same given to WVU.

In January of 2018, University of South Carolina officials agreed to the proposal of last call being at 2 a.m. in Columbia. The agreement to this proposal was specifically due to the issue of students drinking around the main bar scene. An official noted that in 2017, “260 USC students were taken to the hospital after over-consuming alcohol.” He also added that “of those who were, all reported that they had been drinking in one of the bars that was granted a previous exemption to stay open past 2 a.m.”

Another top party school, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio has looked into way to combat student drinking. However, their idea doesn’t entail changing last call. Bar officials around Oxford have proposed the idea of making drinks more expensive, so college students won’t be able to afford as many. “It makes a lot of sense. If the price of alcohol is higher, it’s going to discourage consumption.”

Talks on changing the last call time in Morgantown haven’t resumed since they were shut down in late 2017. Due to recent alcohol bad behavior trends such as the Spruce Street Riots and Fraternities being shut down, I wouldn’t be surprised if the City Council meets again soon to discuss this topic.