Does a university have a duty to prevent students from drinking alcohol on campus?

In Baldwin v. Zoradi (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 275, 176 Cal.Rptr. 809, the plaintiff was a young student at a state university. She became a quadriplegic in an auto collision which occurred when other inebriated, underage students engaged in an auto race after drinking on campus. (Id. at p. 279, 176 Cal.Rptr. 809.) Despite the egregious misconduct of the plaintiff's fellow students--and the terrible nature of her injuries, the Fifth District concluded the university was not legally responsible. "Since the turbulent '60s, California colleges and universities have been in the forefront of extension of student rights with a concomitant withering of faculty and administrative omnipotence. Drug use has proliferated. Although the consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under 21 years of age is proscribed by law [citation], the use of alcohol by college students is not so unusual or heinous by contemporary standards as to require special efforts by college administrators to stamp it out. Although the university reserved to itself the right to take disciplinary action for drinking on campus, this merely follows state law. [Citation.] The same may be said of the [dormitory rental] agreement prohibiting alcoholic beverages. We do not believe they created a mandatory duty." (Id. at p. 288, 176 Cal.Rptr. 809.)