It might have been about six beers into the evening–no, make that seven–when I began thinking about the late Jesse Snow.

I began thinking about the Sacramento State student’s last night alive, during which several people witnessed him and pal Stephen Head binge drink one shot of alcohol after another at Chevy’s restaurant on Howe Avenue.

I thought about the negligence of the bartenders who never bothered to check the 20-year-old Snow’s identification. I also wondered why between Snow, Head and restaurant personnel, nobody acted to keep the two drunken kids from attempting to drive home.

Next, I vaguely recalled reading a CSU press release from last August, where Chancellor Charles Reed declared “war” on alcohol abuse. Several months before that lurching gesture, in a speech to other university administrators in Washington, D.C., Reed said, “We need to take responsibility for building a safe learning environment for our students.”

Finally-battling a sluggish haze that only cheap beer can induce–I rose from my seat at Round Table Pizza in the University Union and decided to sober up.

Irony? You bet. Hypocrisy? Depends who you ask.

“The Chancellor speaks on behalf of the system,” explained Associated Students Inc. President Eric Guerra, who freely admits to the “inevitability” of binge drinking on a college campus.

“Obviously,” Guerra said, “something the system does is to allow campuses their own autonomy.”

Reed’s crusade, however, makes little mention of that “autonomy.” Rather, the chancellor laments binge drinking deaths and injuries among CSU students, mournfully pledges the system’s best effort against future alcohol abuse, then moves on with his whistle-stop tour before elaborating what kind of standards must be upheld at “autonomous” alcohol-serving campuses.

Student Activities assistant director Heather Dunn Carlton is the author of last year’s “A Message to CSUS,” a mailer that explained how “alcohol use may contribute to college campus problems such as missed classes, decreased studying… rape, fires, injuries and death.”

And although most folks would argue that death is historically more of a “human mortality problem” than a type of correctable “campus problem,” Dunn Carlton insists that the university’s emphasis on prevention rather than abstinence is key to resolving alcohol abuse among Sac State students.

“It’s a difficult struggle,” Dunn Carlton said. “I go back and forth all the time. It’s not my place to necessarily have a definitive opinion, but to help facilitate that discussion and guide the campus in a healthy direction.

“It’s about encouraging healthy choices, and you can’t make a healthy choice if we tell you, ‘There’s no drinking here.'”

Of course, the issue isn’t just “drinking”; it’s “binge drinking.” A well-publicized Harvard study recently defined “binge drinking” as the successive consumption of five 12 oz. beers (four for women), or five glasses of wine, or five shots of liquor, either straight or in a cocktail.

And while the university has yet to install a Jagermeister tap at Round Table or the River Front Pub, it is entirely possible for anyone of legal age to cruise to either location, grab a pitcher of beer and proceed to get thoroughly and-according to Harvard-officially wasted.

That’s not a “healthy choice,” by any standard, and no matter how many awareness campaigns are leveled at students, the option remains available. I know, because I’ve done it.

I’ve gone through two pitchers of beer in a row-sometimes with friends, sometimes without-and had to stagger out of the Union to browse books in the library until I was okay to drive home. I’ve seen others do it, legally, under the ostensibly watchful eye of part-time student employees, some of whom swoop by to pick up an empty pitcher just to make way for the next full one.

Looking back to Jesse Snow-whose death seems to have crystallized Sac State’s binge drinking panic-it’s easy to spot the dilemma.

Today, as the university prepares to accept a $50,000 settlement check from Chevy’s (via the Snow family) to set up a new alcohol awareness program, the administration seems to be saying, “Drink responsibly, but we’ll take what we can get.” They preach responsibility while selling alcohol. They advocate accountability while welcoming funds that were born of two young men’s fatal recklessness and a company’s gross negligence. The school seems to be conceding that there is no question but, “What else are we supposed to do?”

And as I linger here, hungover with the nature of no-win situations, I can only think of one answer:

Have another drink.

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