Alcohol use led to serious harm for students at colleges in California and in New Jersey this week.

 
At the University of California-Merced, an 18-year-old student drunkenly stumbled to his death around dawn. According to police who investigated the death:

"The bottom line here is this was an alcohol-related accident."

 
At Rider University in New Jersey, an 18-year-old student was hospitalized following a very serious case of alcohol poisoning that stemmed from an alcohol-fueled frat party. 

In both of these cases, the students who were directly affected by alcohol were freshman. Given they were underage, using alcohol was just as illegal for them as using marijuana. Yet they were told they would face harsher penalties for marijuana than for alcohol.

So, can anyone explain why universities continue telling students "drink responsibly" instead of "party responsibly"?