Furman administrators debuted guidelines for hosting previously prohibited BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage) events on campus. Student organizations can now host on-campus BYOB events in approved locations. Administrators hope this policy will allow more organizations to host inexpensive social events on campus.
Currently, the only approved locations are G Pavillion and the Watkins Room in Trone Student Center. However, if the pilot program goes well this semester, Director of Student Involvement Jordan King has said Student Involvement will “collect feedback from students about future considerations or possible ways to expand this practice in the future.”
“While I do think Furman’s off-campus social event policy has been very successful, we’ve heard feedback from students, particularly fraternity and sorority members, that off-campus events can be cost prohibitive. More events are taking place on campus,” King said. “We always try to use student feedback to adapt in a way that still aligns with university policies and expectations, and with the newly renovated North Village Pavilion opening last year, we expect more groups to use that space. This was the perfect time to renew our BYOB policy.”
As outlined in a mandatory risk management training event for all members of Furman Student Life (FSL) on Aug. 28 and 29, to host an event in compliance with BYOB, student organizations are required to track attendance, hire event staff to check IDs at the door and consult with the Furman University Police Department. Students who are 21 or older may bring unopened, individually packaged beer, seltzers, or wine, provided they are under 15% ABV. Each student can bring a maximum of six drinks each.

Additionally, the host organization must designate Social Event Managers to monitor risky behavior and assume roles such as door monitor, bar manager and event manager. When students bring alcohol to the BYOB function, they must turn their drinks in to a bar manager who will keep them in a cooler during the event. At any point, the student may go up to the bar and ask for one of their drinks, while the bar manager keeps track of how many drinks each person has left by drawing tally marks on the student’s wristband.
“Furman’s new BYOB policy will open the door to a variety of social events around Furman’s campus. It’s a good stepping stone. Hopefully, we will see organizations incorporate the new BYOB policies into their events in the future,” Sigma Chi vice president Trace Lackey ‘25 said.
However, some students say the current event space option is too limiting. So far, no Greek organizations have hosted a BYOB event.
“Before this change, we could only host one event type per the Tri Delta Executive Office rules,” Tri Delta sorority president Torrey Kridel ‘25 said. “While this does open up events for us, I’m not sure how much we’ll use it, at least until more event locations are available.”
Chi Omega social events chair Hope Cook ‘26 says the inexpensive option is helpful for her sorority at a time when members going abroad has led to budget cuts.
“We would most likely use it in addition to our preexisting functions because it would have to be a different style of event if held at G Pavillion. We could have a wider variety of events on campus if a space like the amphitheater was also available,” Cook said.“It is a neat idea because it brings Greek life events to campus, making the social events more visible to freshmen thinking about rushing. It also opens the door for collaboration between organizations.”