DePaul’s Code of Student Responsibility states, “DePaul University expects students to uphold the law when it comes to the purchase and consumption of alcohol.”
DePaul’s administration clearly doesn’t play around when it comes to alcohol policy. However, in the few weeks that I have been here, I have heard of multiple alcohol busts by campus authorities and an alleged cocaine bust at a fraternity party a couple weeks ago.
It is not that the university does not give us sufficient education about the dangers of alcohol; everyone had to go through the information session by campus security during orientation. So what is it that continually causes alcohol use among students to be a problem?
Some might argue that it is the location of the campus in the city that causes the problem, but most of the clubs and bars in the city are extremely strict about carding those under 21.
It is quite possible that college is simply a time when students tend to make rash decisions and test their limits. After all, for most of us, college is our first time living on our own, and that can certainly create a misunderstanding about freedoms and limits to it. In truth, most students have already experimented with alcohol long before even entering the DePaul campus. College life is simply a more intense continuation of their high school partying life.
As senior Parker Sully puts it, “You just have to be responsible.”
A strange thing I noticed when I first arrived was that many of the party and drug busts primarily involved freshmen, leading me to believe that the truth of it is that coming to college in the big city can be an overwhelming opportunity for freshmen to go wild on campus and off.
Sully agreed on this too. “Most of the stuff that happens on campus is the freshmen; they’re who are primarily living in the dorms,” Sully said. “The upperclassmen do their stuff downtown.”
As for whether there is anything to be done about this issue, I am uncertain. All college campuses have their party groups. On the surface, the city has many laws and regulations in place preventing those under 21 from even stepping foot in a bar. However, many students also come from the suburbs, or from areas far enough away from the city that the laws are different and alcohol is more easily attainable.
Some people might suggest searches, but that would most likely be a waste of time. Young adults will always find a loophole, so unless the school begins mandatory drug testing for all incoming students – a measure that will logistically and financially fail – there really is nothing extra to be done. The only thing that can logically be done is to keep educating incoming students and hope they get the message.
As we progress further into the school year, all we can do is hope that the amount of arrests and major drug busts on campus will gradually fade as students move into their more intense coursework. For now, however, education is all that remains.