Is student life dominated by drinking?
I’ve had an experience and a conversation in the last few days, as well as countless others less recently, that brought this question to mind. Here are some more…
As a friend, is it the responsibility of the more sober person to stop their friend from drinking past a certain point?
If there is a drinking culture, is this a problem? How so? Can one prove that students who drink “a lot” get worse results in class than those who drink less, for instance?
Do students who drink more or less than the “average” make other students uncomfortable or cause problems?
How can we change this, if it’s an issue? What would be required in order to create a student body without alcohol at its heart?
Well, there are my questions. I have been comparing my social life, if you will, with what it used to be. In that dim and distant past, before I started at university, before I got involved with the Students’ Union. Back in the day, you see, I had a social life which involved a variety of groups of different people. While I might know somebody because of mutual interest in Harry Potter and they might also turn up at a bisexual convention, these crossovers were certainly not constant. Although I do still have contact with my friends from before university, it’s mostly online because I have so few free evenings.
My main point is that before university, I would meet people for coffee or dinner or drinks. Not only for drinks. I now attend university for classes two nights a week. If I have a union meeting or committee meeting, that’s a third evening or day at least. After a meeting or class, I’m almost certain to end up in the bar with my friends, mostly fellow union officers. We drink a lot. I don’t particularly try to match the drinking pace of certain colleagues, but if I slow down or ask for a soft drink it is certainly noted and commented on.
Sometimes the only way students get to ask the union representatives questions is over a pint. I know that can be where I see fellow officers most, and end up planning campaigns or having useful discussions. The bar is where we air our grievances, introduce each other to other students and members of clubs and societies, relax, find out about events and tell each other what’s going well.
Birkbeck's Lydia 