WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Colby College is following two other elite liberal arts colleges in Maine by banning hard alcohol from campus this fall.

Dean of Students Jim Terhune says the goal is to eliminate "dangerous drinking." He says hard liquor, not beer or wine, is the culprit when students are hospitalized for excessive drinking. Bates and Bowdoin colleges have similar policies banning hard liquor.

The Morning Sentinel newspaper says Colby's policy comes more than two years after nearly 20 students were hospitalized following a tradition in which seniors marked the end of classes by drinking on the steps of Colby's library.

The new policy bans students from having liquor on campus, though it still can be served at privately catered functions. Nineteen-year-old student Clare Saunders says campus administrators are trying to baby-sit students.