<p>To tag on to the post above... I was planning on living in the sub-free area of the dorm my sophomore year (ended up not living in a dorm at all but that's another story), in a 4-person suite. I wanted to live there because I don't drink and I hoped to find some other acquaintances who didn't either, and also because I didn't want to put up with drunk roommates stumbling home while I'm asleep, parties being held in the common room, etc. </p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure why the roommates that I got put with chose sub-free housing, but I do understand that they thought because they only got drunk once a week, this was almost the same as not drinking at all. I kind of think that they, too, wanted to not have to deal with drunken roommates...they just didn't bother to think or care that their potential roommates might consider them to be an annoyance like they ones they're trying to avoid. If half the people in the dorm sign up for it thinking that they'll get the benefit of being able to party whenever they want and then come home to a nice quiet dorm full of non-drinkers (except for them, of course)....then it's just going to end up being the same as a regular dorm.</p>
<p>OP chiming in, briefly,</p>
<p>for URichmond, I absolutely definitely will make it my son's decision, l00%. He's his own man. </p>
<p>I'm just doing some due dilligence, gathering up some posts for him to read to help him decide. The best decisions are always made based on info.</p>
<p>I agree strongly with you that no parent should force a kid's hand on housing decisions. The student has to wake up each day and deal with things. </p>
<p>It's just that very little has been written about this. TOns of ink spilled about coed bathrooms, smoking/no smoking etc. but not substance-free. Maybe it's a new option (new, like within the past 10 years anyway). </p>
<p>ALL comments here are appreciated and welcomed.</p>
<p>P.S. My own college was the one that had the first coed dorm in America, which made the cover of Life Magazine back in the early l970's. Some parents wanted to yank their kids right out of school when the story came out! And it was just one dorm.</p>
<p>Humboldt calls their substance-free hall a "healthy living" hall. They focus on the sound-mind-and-body. </p>
<p>It's amazing, but because of Humboldt's reputation for drugs, the substance-free zone is the first hall to fill up with freshmen. </p>
<p>By the way, according to surveys, Humboldt's residence halls have no more drug activity than the average American university. It's just the college town's reputation that gets attached to the university.</p>
<p>Having dorms that are not substance-free just seems to be asking for trouble. Our whole campus is a dry campus, with no one even over 21 allowed to drink on campus. I know that people still do (one of my best friends' roommates has hosted all out parties in his dorm room, and many people in the on-campus apts have alcohol) but most "activities" like that occur in off-campus apartments (almost all of which are rented by 21+, because that's the age you have to be to live off-campus if you haven't found any loopholes). I wish we could be a smoke-free campus as well, but at least alcohol free is a step in the right direction. </p>
<p>If I had a choice between substance-free or otherwise, I would choose substance-free in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>I live in substance-free dorm and there's nothing wrong with it. People here don't party or drink in ANY dorms -- they go off-campus.</p>
<p>I don't know much about substance free dorms, but I do have a comment about the drinking age. 21 is just fine, in my opinion. For one thing, alcohol affects children and teenagers differently than adults. Young people who become alcoholics are more likely to be affected their whole lives (i.e. if they give up alcohol/go through rehab they are more likely to come back to drinking). Drinking isn't great for adults, either, but it doesn't affect them as adversely, and they are somewhat more likely to make responsible choices about drinking. Alcoholism in college can be dangerous; binge drinking can kill (people pretty much die when the blood alcohol level reaches .4, which of course is a lot, but happens fairly frequently these days with people making irresponsible choices). Anyways, I'm glad that the drinking age is 21, and I support it first of all staying that way and secondly being ENFORCED. I find it sad that so many colleges ignore underage drinking.</p>