One of Brown's best aspects

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>I was going to post this as a continuation of the ‘Community at Brown’ thread, but it got so long that I figured I would post it separately:</p>

<p>Here’s something for you, an advantage of Brown that I didn’t truly appreciate until I had visited and spoken to friends at other colleges:</p>

<p>Brown’s dorms do not have RA’s or any other peers charged with acting as authority figures. I do not know of a single other school in Brown’s peer group (or at all, really) for which this is true.</p>

<p>Now, for those of you who drink, the beauty of this is self-evident. No one will ever write you up for what you do in the privacy of your dormitory. Not just in your room, but literally in the entire dormitory. When I tell friends of mine at other schools about this, they note that they, too, can do what they want as they please, so long as they keep the door closed. They talk of keeping the door closed as a courtesy to the RA’s, who are obligated to report what they see. At Brown, you would be doing no one a favor by drinking behind closed and locked doors, because there are no authority figures who are charged with reporting you. And this means that drinking at Brown often does not have the rapid, excessive, and furtive nature that it can take on at other schools, which is really, really great.</p>

<p>But what does this mean for someone who doesn’t care to drink? It means a couple things: (a.) You will feel trusted. This is an extension of the atmosphere at Brown that revolves around freedom of choice, and it’s a pretty great feeling. (b.) Your counselors (and there are many of them, when you’re a freshman) are real peers, who you feel comfortable talking to, and who have time for you. This is worth more than you can imagine if you’ve never lived in a dormitory situation before.</p>

<p>I’m anticipating two groups of comments, so I’ll address them beforehand:</p>

<p>ADOCHers who met their hosts’ RC/MPC/WPC’s, and assumed that they are charged with similar responsibilities as RA’s at other schools: they are not. One of my friends who is a counselor recounted, laughing, how she bumped into one pre-frosh girl who was drinking. When the girl’s host introduced her as the counselor for the dorm, the pre-frosh was emphatically apologetic, thinking she would get in trouble. This was funny, of course, because my friend wasn’t going to do anything –that simply isn’t her job.</p>

<p>Parents: ‘Great, now I can’t send my kid to Brown, s/he is going to spiral out of control with all kinds of debauchery!’ Wrong. Brown’s policy about in-dorm counselors and alcohol control is effective, and encourages much better practices than policies at other schools. The basic tenets: keep drinking on campus, in controlled environments, and make help (should it be needed) accessible and not intimidating. In case you haven’t read any recent literature on drinking culture in college, it basically works like this: the more you police alcohol consumption, the more quickly students try to get drunk behind closed doors. This is a recipe for disaster that Brown students don’t have to worry about to nearly the extent of my friends at other schools. If you are worried about your child’s wellbeing with regard to alcohol, I would recommend you do two things: (a.) read ‘Binge’ by Barrett Seaman, especially the chapters on alcohol policy and the drinking age (the whole book is great, though) and (b.) send your student to a school with a sensible alcohol policy, like Brown’s.</p>

2

<p>This post is great, and for the most part accurate, but I think it might be a little bit misleading. I'd like to clarify the roles of counselors and the policies of the disciplinary system with regards to alcohol.</p>

<p>Your RC, WPC, and MPC don't have any direct disciplinary power and aren't required to report if you're drinking. However, they can intervene if your behavior causes a problem. If you're drinking in your room and not hurting anybody, then they won't do anything. However if you're partying loudly and disturbing other students, or if you're drunk so often that you're sick, they will take it up with you and possibly take the problem to higher authorities. Also, if they think that you are in immediate physical danger, they will call Emergency Medical Services to make sure you get the help you need.</p>

<p>Now, it is true that Brown's general disciplinary policy for alcohol is extremely lax. If you need to "get EMSed" for drinking, you will have to have a short meeting with someone in Health Services later on, to talk about your drinking and whether it has become a problem for you. But as long as your drinking doesn't cause a problem for yourself or other people, you can do whatever you want. This is pretty similar for pot use. For example, on 4/20 (especially around 4:20 pm), a lot of people were out smoking pot on the main green. There were Brown security people walking around, but they were mostly there for safety, not discipline. I saw one kid who was casually drinking from an open bottle of wine, and the officer just made him throw it away, but without any kind of disciplinary action or writeup.</p>

<p>But Brown is not lax about problems caused by drinking. Being under the influence of alcohol or other substances is never an excuse for sexual harassment, destroying property, violence, etc. These things are taken very seriously.</p>

3

<p>what exactly does RC, WPC, and MPC stand for? I'm guessing, ____ counselor?</p>

4

<p>Good insight and totally true. Brown's dorms (esp Keeney) are so much fun. Columbia was like a fortress when I was there, 5 people drinking in a room would get busted.</p>

5

<p>Everything that ILoveBrown said is very true - thanks for making everything clearer for everyone.</p>

<p>RC, WPC, and MPC stand for Resident Counselor, Women Peer Counselor, and Minority Peer Counselor, respectively.</p>

6

<p>ah thank you :)</p>