FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Colorado State University vendors will be selling more potent beer at the stadium this football season, though alcohol use is under heightened scrutiny following the death of a student and two riots.

Sodexho, the food and beverage contractor for Hughes Stadium, secured changes to its liquor license after a process that began last year. The new permit allows Sodexho to sell wine, hard liquor and beer with alcohol percentages over 3.2 percent, Larimer County Deputy County Clerk Gael Cookman said Monday.

The change means beer that is 5 percent alcohol by volume will be sold in the stands.

It also comes at an uncomfortable time for the university. Two student riots and the death of 19-year-old Samantha Spady of Beatrice, Neb., during the first two weeks of the fall semester have been tied to alcohol use. Spady's official cause of death won't be released until Friday, although early reports suggest that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.43 percent -- five times the legal limit for driving in Colorado.

Selling alcohol at the stadium is one of the issues a special university task force on alcohol will take look at, CSU spokesman Tom Milligan said.

"Everything is on the table," Milligan said.

CSU athletic department spokesman Gary Ozzello said no objections to the change were raised at two public meetings.

"The supplies really are difficult for us to access," Ozzello said. "They just don't make 3.2 beer in kegs anymore."

Other colleges sell beer at football games. The University of Colorado has banned beer sales at Folsom Field since 1996, though it does not apply to luxury suites and club seats.

CSU student Robert Headtki said the school has been able to control drinking at Hughes Stadium and beer should be sold there.

"They have done a good job patrolling of underage drinkers and unruly behavior," said Headtki, a 20-year-old junior majoring in environmental health.

Student Alexandra Munro, 26, said the school should take another look at its alcohol policy.

"Students should be responsible enough not to riot or get out of control," said Munro, a junior nutrition and fitness major. "But is it realistic they re-evaluate that policy after what has happened? Yes."