USG Health Director and event mediator Spring Cooper (senior-biobehavioral health) said excessive drinking "is the most important issue facing college students." Referring to measures taken by State College to enforce alcohol laws, such as cameras on buildings, she said students "need to be aware that actions are punishable, but I don't think that invasions of privacy are how to go about it."

Jack Di Giovanna (senior-electrical engineering) was one of the students who attended the forum.

"I like the idea of the forum if it leads to changes," Di Giovanna said. "I think it can be a great thing."

Organizer Penn State alumnus Michael Poorman said he expected 200 people to attend the event. But a crowd of less than 100 were seated around tables when the Public Issues Forum began.

Digiovanna said the crowd was composed of more officials and residents than of students.

"I notice it's a much older crowd," he said.

The forum began with a video produced by the National Issues Forum about alcohol consumption in America, and then separated the participants into six groups of about 15 people each in order to discuss issues surrounding student drinking.

The forum focused on three unique possible approaches to handling alcohol consumption, which were more stringently enforcing drinking laws, treating drinking as a disease, and educating the public about the risks associated with excessive consumption.

The members of each group were allowed to express their opinions openly, and a rule of discussion was that no one person could dominate the conversation.

The goal of the forum was not to alter future Penn State policy on excessive drinking, said mediator Katherine Johnston (freshman-division of undergraduate studies). The forum was one part of a nation-wide program conducted by the National Issues Forum that collects opinions across college campuses on the issue, and addresses the resultant data to Congress, she added.

One of the attendees was District Justice of State College Carmine Prestia, who said that serious inconsistencies existed in drinking laws, and added a remedy is needed.

"There needs to be more consistency in the laws," Prestia said, citing differences in punishments for alcohol-related crimes.

According to the forum's literature, the event was a "nonpartisan discussion based on the tradition of the early American town meeting." The forum's goal was to have students, faculty and State College residents address the issue of excessive drinking by "informing themselves and each other," its flier said.

Public Issues Forums of Centre County sponsored the event at the request of the Campus Community Partnership. Public Issues Forum plans to hold two more forums this year at Penn State.