Prohibition Campus

[protege]

Now, I don't think that school had a "you can't even have alcohol in your system" rule. But I could definitely see a private, religious school doing that.

When I started college, my school had a somewhat loose affiliation to a church. At the time, it was a dry campus. No alcohol sold, none allowed in the dorms. Because of that, if you wanted to drink...you either had to pony up for a fake ID to get into the bars, join a frat/sorority, or party off-campus. Coming back drunk occasionally got people busted for being obnoxious, or because they attracted the town police attention.

Mid-way through my schooling, the college president decided that drinking (along with fraternities) didn't fit into the "Christian" image, and has since clamped down on things. He booted all the frats and sororities (even the honorary ones!) off campus...which pissed off most of the alumni...which then cut back on their donations. Can't understand why

[blas87]

I'm actually in favor of dry campuses, if it means no alcohol allowed in the dorms or on the campus itself. There's no reason to be drinking if you need to study, and I can only imagine how fun it'd be to have a room-mate completely trashed talking loudly or playing around while you're trying to sleep, or if your room-mate decided to have friends over and drink if you needed to study.

You can go to the bar to drink or you can go to someone's house. There's no need to have it in your room. College is about learning and getting a degree, not drinking and partying every day, which is something most college kids seem to forget.

[AdminAssistant]

While that seems extreme, it kinda pisses me off that alumni would stop donating to their alma mater because their extra special club was kicked out. (I'm rather anti-frat/sorority.) It also pisses me off that a university can be in extreme financial trouble, and most alumni would *still* rather donate to the athletic fund than to academics. Ridiculous.

[Eisa]

Oh. Not my college then. I go to a school in Idaho. The whole state is religious.

It also seems rather pointless sometimes cuz I KNOW people sneak booze onto campus and in the dorms. Underage people especially, it seems the ones over 21 have grown up and decided eh fuck it, I'll follow the rules. Of course I could be biased since I'm over 21 and just don't care all that much about drinking.

What I wouldn't mind would be if it was just that you couldn't stash alcohol in the dorms. Considering how many people who live in the dorms who AREN'T of legal age...that's fine.

[tropicsgoddess]

I've never heard of a dry campus but that right there is beyond ridiculous.

[AdminAssistant]

I'd rather have students drinking in their dorm rooms than stumbling out to the bars or having a funnel shoved down their throat at a house party. College is about studying and all that happy shit, but tell a college student that they can't drink and party, and they will do it just to spite you.

Besides, it's ridiculously easy to sneak booze into a dorm room and hide it there. RA's and the like are not allowed to root through your stuff during inspection. Just hide it in your closet and shut the door or put it in a closed drawer. Some of the best times I've had in my life involved drinking in the dorms.

[Eisa]

^That's true. Although it doesn't help to be a complete moron...my roommate's bf stashed some in our fridge. GET THAT OUT NAO. Seriously...and they make plans "to get completely fucked up" in the dorms. I don't wanna be the narc who snitches on everyone, but it's ridiculous.

[AdminAssistant]

They can't look in your fridge either, or at least that was the rule in my college. If it was shut, the RA couldn't open it.

[Greenday]

College is about learning and getting a degree, not drinking and partying every day, which is something most college kids seem to forget.

College is about learning. College is not only about what you learn in the classroom. It's about the life experience you get while there. I learned a shitload of stuff out of the classroom that I would never have learned elsewhere. You know what else happens at those parties besides drinking? You meet people. You make connections. People you never would have talked to otherwise end up possibly being some of your best friends.

College is about learning your limits. What is and isn't acceptable. And if you haven't figured it out by senior year, well, you probably dropped out already or aren't graduating yet. There is as much learning outside the classroom as there is inside the classroom.

[Eisa]

They can't look in your fridge either, or at least that was the rule in my college. If it was shut, the RA couldn't open it.

I don't know what the rule here is, but...

they have also left it on the counter. Thank Gawd they were taking it with him lol. Our RAs are REALLY nice and laid back, but I don't think they would be allowed to ignore that.

Like one said that we could have a pet turtle if we wanted as long as he didn't officially know about it...

[ExRetailDrone]

College is about learning. College is not only about what you learn in the classroom. It's about the life experience you get while there. I learned a shitload of stuff out of the classroom that I would never have learned elsewhere. You know what else happens at those parties besides drinking? You meet people. You make connections. People you never would have talked to otherwise end up possibly being some of your best friends.

I would agree with this. I definitely learned a lot during my year and a half at a ground campus that did not constitute me being in a classroom or hovering over a textbook. I learned more about myself than I think I would have been able to had I followed the course my parents wanted and went to a school near my hometown and lived at home. Instead, I decided on a school 400 miles away and lived in the dorms, and it was a wonderful, enriching experience.

Did I drink in the dorms? Yeah. Was I underage? Affirmative. Was I stupid about it? I don't think so, not moreso than partaking in illegal activities in general, anyway. I didn't flaunt my drunkenness, I didn't get so wasted that I blacked out, and I always had good friends around, which made the experience that much more enjoyable.

I also met a girl at the house party of a friend of mine who turned into a very good friend in her own right. After that meeting, we found that we had a lot in common, and decided to rent an apartment together the following year. We barely knew each other when we made that decision, but it turned out to be a wonderful choice, and we became close friends.

I'm not saying that students need to go out and party in order to learn about life, but going to a party can definitely help a person socialize and meet people, which can in turn teach them a lot about themselves along the way. Everyone needs to make their own decisions and do what's best for them individually, but they will do so regardless of rules set down.

I have no clue if this makes as much sense as I'm hoping it does; I'm exhausted and can't think too straight and I'm stuck at work unable to nap, so if this is just a bunch of babble, feel free to disregard

[fireheart17]

I know that my uni is mostly a dry-zone, however we do sell alcohol in the two bars on the campus, with the provision that students can't take it away from that area. Basically, that limits them to the dining area. The library is a gigantic dry-zone and I believe the on-campus accomodation and the northern section of the campus is a dry zone as well, due to the fact that we have a pre-uni school in that area (this school is a specialist Maths/Science school, the students are in Years 10-12, there's no uniforms (the students are required to wear a badge though) and the classes are run more like your standard uni).

[McDreidel09]

Hell, after some of those exams, you NEED a frikken drink.

My school is a wet campus. We have an on campus sports bar (which turns into that at a certain time of night). We are allowed to have booze in our rooms, as long as the occupants are of legal drinking age. We have one dry wing in one of the dorms, but that wing is for people who want to be all like "Look at us! We are good kids! We don't do any of that bad stuff like drink, smoke, and have sex! We prove it by being in this particular wing because we are better than you!"

Then again, I am in WI. Go figure.

[blas87]

Maybe it's because I'm a little older than some of you, but I am done with drinking and partying. When I turn 24 I will finally be able to get grants and financial aid, and I will not be partying hard like most college kids here do, but then again, I spent those years where most kids are starting college working all the time and drinking on the weekends and grew tired of how it made me feel and how it made me and other people act.

I'm not saying they can't drink at all period, I'm just saying I haven't an issue at all with dry dorms and campuses.

When I used to go out on the weekends, I had pals who went to the U here, and they were at the bar nearly every night of the week. What losers. And going to school on Mommy and Daddy's tab or a scholarship or free tuition from popping out a kid or not being white, whatever the case, and it just irks me that people like me haven't had the chance to go to college and these little fucks just party it all away and flunk out or don't even go half the time.

[AdminAssistant]

And going to school on Mommy and Daddy's tab or a scholarship or free tuition from popping out a kid or not being white, whatever the case, and it just irks me that people like me haven't had the chance to go to college and these little fucks just party it all away and flunk out or don't even go half the time.

That bothers me too, blas. As much as me and my friends partied, it was always on the weekends and usually only once a month or two. During finals or exam time, though? The dorm was deathly quiet. It probably helped that I was on the Honors floor and we were all on scholarship. The rest of the time we just hung out and played video games like good little geeks. I did a lot more solo drinking, but that was due to a lot of other factors, mostly stress (taking 37 hours in a year = bad idea) and depression.

I see it a *lot* more here than I did at my undergrad. But my current school is the flagship university, and my undergrad was the smaller agricultural state school. My current school is the most expensive public college, so we get a lot more "trustafarians" and rich, bored, dumb as a doorknob students. And I hate that kind of student. They have this ridiculous sense of entitlement, like "I pay your salary" (you don't). Or, "Why should I have to pay to go to shows? I already pay fees!" First of all, you don't pay fees, Mumsy and Dadsy do. Second of all, it's $10, lay off the PBR for a weekend and you'll be good. Third of all, we give you guys the opportunity to do a bit of volunteer work in exchange for free tickets. So stop bitching.

I had an awesome student last semester. A Brit (I'm pretty sure he was English) who had spent time in both the Royal Army and the US Marines. One day we had particularly low attendance and he said, "This just pisses me off. The only way I could go to college was by serving in the military. These guys have a college education given to them and they piss it away. Bloody wankers."

tl;dr: There are students who drink and party their way through college, but it is possible to do well academically while having a vibrant social life. In fact, I'd say both are pretty vital to the college experience.