On the Topic of Underage Drinking

In this Issue: an important message about underage drinking

New student move-in will start soon, and our upperclass students will arrive soon after that, so it is worth offering a word of caution about parties and underage drinking. We want all students to make great choices! 

Things underage students should know

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 most of my years at Wake, 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 will call the police. When the police come, students could be cited for underage possession. Off-campus citations are issued by the City of Winston-Salem or Alcohol Law Enforcement (state police). The Dean of Students will also meet with students who are cited off-campus.

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 a.m. ok with you, or not? Do you want to encourage Uber, the buddy system, etc.? Talk about what feels appropriate for your family.

Things Families Should Know

I also have colleagues who want to make an important ask of WFU families: please do not provide your underage student with alcohol, either at move-in or any other time you’re on campus. Providing minors with alcohol is of course against state law, but it is also important for many other reasons, including risk, liability, safety, community, and more.

Wake Forest students are living in community – sharing their physical living space, classrooms, and the larger campus. Living in community means everyone needs to follow the rules that have been set out for the good of the whole, because that’s what makes the community function in harmony. If you provide alcohol to your underaged student, you and your student are risking the safety of our campus and other students. Once you leave campus, you have no control over how the alcohol will be consumed, with whom it will be shared, or what the consequences of use may be.

One final note to be aware of: in past years, NC Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) has been present at tailgates and have issued citations to students for underage consumption. In some families’ home states, the consumption of alcohol by a child, when the alcohol is provided by the parent, is allowed, but that is not the case in NC.

Why am I sharing this?

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.

And every year I write on this topic, I get at least one parent/family member who emails me and says “I wish my Deac had listened to this!”