BOULDER -- Despite years of fighting their "party school" reputation, the University of Colorado hosts regular drinking events for staff, students and visitors, a CALL7 hidden-camera investigation found.

Over several days, CALL7 investigators visited the Boulder campus, finding drinking events that appear to have little to do with enhancing either research or education at CU.

“It's kind of odd that in some ways the university seems to frown on alcohol consumption and its associated evils and yet ... every department has got like ... an account number with us and can purchase alcohol,” said an employee of the liquor store that received the most CU business in the past four years.

In recent years, CU has been at the center of scandals about the use of alcohol to recruit football players and an alcohol poisoning death. They also only stopped using state money for on-campus alcohol events just three years ago. The alcohol is now paid for with donor money.

To help fight the alcohol problems, CU has stopped fraternities and sororities from allowing alcohol during rush week and stopped liquor sales to the general public at football and basketball games.

However, 7News found parties regularly continue in school buildings, during school hours for a variety of reasons.

CALL7 investigators found a weekly beer party during the school year at the molecular biology department after students present their research and a monthly engineering, first-Friday event, with bottles of wine and beer. There were also several parties for advisory boards of various schools.

The employee from the liquor store, which had the most CU business -- about $150,000 over the past three years, -- knew the departments that were good customers.

“The department of microbiology is a hard-partying group I can tell you that, but then the law school and the alumni association and you know on and on," the employee said on hidden camera, clearly referring to biology departments in Boulder. Microbiology is not on the Boulder campus.

CU administrators defended the events, saying they are necessary to build collegiality, bring people together to discuss their research and recruit donors or new faculty. They point out that the $349,000 spent on alcohol in the past three years was a fraction of one percent of the school's more than $2 billion annual budget.

“I think the standard is can we properly control access to alcohol,” said Robert Moore, vice president of budget and finance, adding that CU is not opposed to alcohol just dangerous binge and underage drinking. “I think that's the standard."

But 7News found that the parties did not follow all the rules. There is a space on the alcohol authorizations forms that require event organizers to say who will attend the events.

But organizers at three of the events either offered alcohol to a producer or agreed to provide it when 7News employees asked.

“I wondered if I could buy a bottle off of someone?” a 7News employee asked

“Just take one,” a molecular biology staff member said. “Take one without asking but it's illegal and we don't want to know.”

Top CU officials said they did not believe it was a problem to allow the parties for staff and grad students while paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to educate undergrads to the dangers of excessive drinking.

"Is that the image the university wants to portray?” asked CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski.

"I’m in no position to judge how appropriate the activity is in our policies that's the department's job or the campus or whoever is hosting the event,” Moore said. “That's their role to determine if that's an appropriate use."

Molecular biology chairman Tom Blumenthal disputed the characterization that his department was "hard-partying," saying the grad students and staff at most drink one or two beers a week at the events and then return to work.

"Is this a house of learning or is this a corner bar?” Kovaleski asked.

“It's a house of learning and these meetings are a very important part of that house of learning, so this is definitely a teaching tool," Blumenthal said.

He said the events could be held without the alcohol, but it’s been a tradition and the beer helps attendance.

In 2005, then-CU president Hank Brown banned state money for alcohol purchases so now all the parties are paid for with donations. The donor must sign a form, saying he or she allows the donation to be used to buy alcohol.

But officials concede the money could go to non-alcohol purposes.

“Could this money be used for books?” Kovaleski asked. “Lab supplies?”

“Yes, of course, it could be,” Blumenthal said. “There's no restriction by the donor that it must be spent on alcohol."

After viewing our undercover video, Moore said CU should review whether they can collect better information justifying why the beer, wine and liquor events are useful for CU.