Some thoughts on making good choices
Since I am working move-in and our Family Welcome Center, I am dusting off a post that I do most years as school begins. Now that new student move-in is underway, and our upperclass students will be arriving later this weekend, it is worth offering a word of caution about parties and underage drinking. All students under 21 want to make wise choices.
There is not a college town anywhere whose local law enforcement isn’t aware of when school starts. With new students comes a potential crop of underage drinkers who could run afoul of the “21 and over” law to drink. Hopefully your family has had its own conversations about your values surrounding alcohol and drugs prior to the start of school. If you have not, it may be worth a reminder to underage Deacs that they need to be careful – both physically careful with what they put in their bodies, and careful in terms of potentially risky situations.
In pre-pandemic times, I could set my watch to the fact that soon after school started, I would get a late night text telling me that there is a large group of students who are being cited for underage drinking at an off-campus location. I used to tell my academic advisees that a good rule of thumb is if you are at a house where there are lots of students standing around in the front yard/back yard with red solo cups in hand, or a lot of parked cars, or if it is loud or unruly, neighbors may well call the police. If the police do come, students could potentially be cited for underage possession. And to add insult to injury, jurisdiction for off campus violations is the purview of city police, not campus police.
Here is my best advice for anyone with underage students:
Remind your Deacs that they will have PLENTY of time after the semester begins to meet upperclassmen and go to parties or tailgates. They might do better to ease in gently from a social standpoint, because ALE (Alcohol Law Enforcement) can be more active the first few weeks.
If they want to go to a party and want to be careful of consequences, they could always bring a bottle of water. That allows them to visit and socialize, but won’t run the risk of being cited if they aren’t drinking/in possession of alcohol. The start of college – especially for new students – is hard. Avoiding unpleasant consequences (and having to call home about same) is a good thing.
Make sure your Deac understands your thoughts about personal safety in general. Is walking alone at 2 am ok with you, or not? Do you want to encourage Uber, the buddy system, etc.? Have they downloaded the LiveSafe app (which gives them a ‘safe walk’ option and a quick way to contact campus police)? Talk about what feels appropriate for your family.
Please know that I share this not to alarm families, but to offer guidance. Especially for our new Deacs, college is a new situation, with nuances and rules they may not be aware of, and you want to help them think before they act so that they have the best outcomes possible.
PS – Every year I write on this topic, I get at least one parent/family members who emails me and says “I wish my Deac had listened to this!”