Chemical-Free Housing

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I'm going to Binghamton, and at my parent's request I signed up for chemical-free housing, which means that me and my roommates won't have alcohol in our suite. This seemed ok to me, but my friends have told me that if either me or my roommates come to the dorm intoxicated, we could all be kicked out.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions/opinions about this matter? Can anyone let me know what chemical-free housing is like? I'm not a drinker, and I've never taken illegal drugs, but I know that at college some minimal experimentation may occur with my roommates or me, so I'm not really sure what to do...</p>

2

<p>It's probably going to depend a lot on your individual school.</p>

<p>Don't rely on word of mouth, ESPECIALLY from your friends...they may be trying to scare you. Call or e-mail your school and know for sure.</p>

3

<p>Search for threads on "substance free housing", it's been discussed many times before. The general consensus is that you should not do it.</p>

4

<p>The point here is if you're under 21 you aren't supposed to have alcohol in your dorm anyway; the only difference is that the people in substance-free housing are usually awkward and the RAs are usually bigger jerks than usual. Fight tooth and nail not to be living in substance-free.</p>

<p>edit: And then don't be afraid to try drinking in college. Because it's college, and whether the masses here admit it or not you're there for a lot more than just to learn academic things.</p>

5

<p>I don't know what responsibility you would have for your suitemates' intoxication, but it looks as if you could be asked to leave if you or your guests showed up under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs.</p>

<p>If your parents are paying the bills they can demand that you request chemical-free housing, but it's really not a good idea for you to agree to things if you haven't read (and understood) the rules that that agreement commits you to following.</p>

<p>And it's a little ridiculous that you would think chemical-free housing just means you can't have alcohol on the premises. You wouldn't be allowed to have alcohol in your suite anywhere in the school's housing. Moreover, since you have to sign up to be assigned to chemical-free housing (as opposed to signing an agreement from wherever you are in the dorm) it's virtually certain that you're being expected not to allow your chemical use to affect others -- and having alcohol in your closet is a lot less likely to affect your neighbors than having alcohol in your bloodstream.</p>

6

<p>I would avoid substance free housing. It's not hard to avoid substances if you don't want to use them in other settings, but the kids that specifically request substance free tend to be...well, rather less than social.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for your advice! I just went online and changed my housing request. Hopefully it's not too late for them to change it.</p>

8

<p>Your decision to change your housing request was a wise one. It's not like kids will be constantly doing lines in the bathrooms or shooting up in their rooms in non-chemical-free housing.</p>

9

<p>easy, i don't know what kind of school you go to, but that sounds like my typical tuesday afternoon</p>

10

<p>Just because you live in a dorm that isn't substance-free doesn't mean that you have to do those things. It's a personal choice and you shouldn't have to have a substance-free dorm to remain that way.</p>

<p>Of course parents want you to live there. They don't want their child to drink or do drugs or anything of that nature and they think that the only way to make sure it doesn't happen would be to make you live there.</p>

11

<p>it really depends on the RA. i visited my friend's dorm and it was a substance free hall, by the end of the night virtually everyone was drunk, including 2 of the RAs.</p>