Kansas University senior Lindsey Wiegele, Shawnee, bowls at the Jaybowl in the Kansas Union. The Kansas Union's board of directors passed a proposal that would allow sales of 3.2 beer in the Jaybowl and Hawks Nest on the lowest level of the union. The proposal must be approved by the provost's office.

A student-led proposal from the Kansas Union’s board of directors would turn the taps in the Jaybowl back on after beer sales ended nearly a decade ago.

Union directors recently approved a proposal to allow 3.2 beer sales in the Jaybowl and Hawks Nest on the lowest level of the union. Drinkers would be limited to two beers per person per evening, and those 21 and older would have their IDs scanned before receiving a wrist band indicating they were OK to purchase beer.

“They approved it with only one dissenting vote,” said Bill Walberg, a junior from El Dorado Hills, Calif., who is on the union board and led a committee to develop the plan. “We wanted to create a place where students could go to relax either between or after classes.”

Although the union OK’d the proposal, the final decision rests with the provost’s office.

KU spokeswoman Jill Jess said the provost had yet to see the proposal and couldn’t comment further.

A proposal for beer sales was rejected three years ago, but Walberg is hopeful that this one will pass because the rules are more strict. He also noted that David Shulenburger, who rejected the old proposal, has left the university.

Also, Walberg said KU Vice Provost Marlesa Roney, who spoke strongly against the 2005 proposal, voted in favor of the current proposal as a member of the union’s board of directors.

“We want to create an environment where students can learn that it’s OK to drink without getting drunk and where they can have a good time without drinking too much,” Walberg said.

Beer was sold in the union until 1998, when a task force of city, KU and Haskell Indian Nations University representatives convened after the death of Lisa Rosel. Rosel, a KU student, was hit and killed by a car driven by another KU student, Matt Vestal, as she walked in the 1400 block of Tennessee. Both Rosel and Vestal were intoxicated, police said.

KU would not be the first student union in the state to sell beer. K-State’s union has sold beer in its bowling and billiards area since 1995.

“This isn’t where students come to get plastered. You just don’t do that on campus,” said Terri Eddy, K-State union recreation manager. “They’re here, they have a couple of drinks while they bowl, and then they leave.”