<p>What is the night life like? I've heard several times that a common motto amongst Davidson students is "work hard, party harder." Is this really the case? I understand that Davidson students study and work extremely hard during the week, and I'm not expecting to come there and just party the whole time. I'm curious though as to what the typical weekends are like. Is alcohol prevalent? Does security crack down on underage drinking? Etc, etc.</p>
<p>We're not like big state schools where there are kids that go out every single night of the week. I mean, there are probably a few of those, but the max most people go out is three nights: Wednesday (most people don't have early Thursday classes), Friday, and Saturday.<br>
But we do party hard. Kids are mostly smart about drinking, though. There aren't many incidents where, for example, a medic is required, or there are concerns about alcohol poisoning. Usually, the kids know their limits and they try not to exceed them much.</p>
<p>Davidson's administration and staff make it clear that their policy is the law's policy: you must be 21 or older to drink alcohol. </p>
<p>But it's not remotely hard to come by. </p>
<p>Many of the eating houses and frats will have pre-game parties before big parties. The bigger parties do tend to have people out checking IDs; however, at the pre-game parties, there's usually beer, champagne, wine, mixed drinks, punches, etc. available.</p>
<p>Davidson makes you attend two classes in a series called "Davidson 101," -- one is an online class called AlcoholEDU (which is boring as hell, but is required at almost every college in this country) and the other is called "Realizing Your Risk" which is about safety, drugs, and alcoholism. It's the only class at Davidson you'll ever take with over one hundred other people. And it lasts only like an hour.</p>
<p>Occasionally, unauthorized parties will be busted by the cops and the kids will be "written up." I don't know exactly what that entails, but my understanding is that it's like a warning, but it does go on your record. Usually, the town cops don't intervene -- just the Residence Life Office in the dorms and apartments and the campus police force in the fraternities/eating houses. That's good -- that way you don't actually get in trouble with the law for drinking underage. </p>
<p>Kids (freshmen included) manage to acquire alcohol through older friends. When you're a freshman, your hall counselor will assign you a "big brother" or "big sister" (opposite gender of what you are), and these assigned students often are old enough to purchase alcohol or else they know someone who is and they'll get it for them. As a result, many people end up drinking on their halls. The hall counselors (freshmen RAs) are authorized to write you up, if they catch you drinking, but most of them will turn the other way as long as you're discreet.</p>
<p>The campus police are really laid-back about it. As the chief of police said at Orientation, if you're walking around with an open solo cup and he sees you drinking it, he'll assume you're drinking water until you give him a reason to believe otherwise (like, you're acting nuts or clearly drunk). I know other cops will just come up to you if you're holding a beer and say simply, "Pour it out." And they'll watch you pour it out and then let you keep walking. They really don't have it in for you.</p>
<p>At the beginning of this year, they did have a huge crackdown (with the town police, too), but that subsided rather quickly. I think the purpose was to get their point across that if you're underage, they don't want you to be drinking.</p>
<p>All parties (except some semiformals/formals) are open and every Tuesday night (I think Tuesday...) the "Social Calendar" gets emailed to everyone.<br>
So, usually I open mine. I see if there's anything that looks good. If FIJI's having something, I'll usually go with my boyfriend because that's his frat. I'm considering joining Rusk, so if they have something, I'll plan on at least stopping by.</p>
<p>After classes on Friday, I go get lunch, get some work done in the afternoon, and if there's a party I'm interested on Friday, I might pregame with friends somewhere in the building (residence halls) -- and note, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm drinking with them, but there is usually alcohol present. And then afterwards, head down to the "court" -- the Patterson Court Circle where almost all the "social" houses are, in addition to the crazy upperclassmen apartments and the Tomlinson dorm and suites. At the Court, I'll meet up with friends at the sophomore apartments or one of the frats/eating houses for a party or more pregaming shenanigans. We'll usually stay down until a little past 1 or 2 (most parties don't "start" until 11) and wind down on the hall with friends to watch movies, talk, or play video games or something. Or drink more, for some people. Then, I'll sleep in the next day and do work for the rest of the weekend. I tend to only go out once a week, usually either Friday or Saturday, but sometimes will go out Wednesday, too.</p>
<p>I think it's really important to note: NOT EVERYBODY DRINKS. And you will very rarely be pressured or urged into doing so if it's your choice to refrain. I went to a girls-only party at Connor House with some of my hallmates. One girl on my hall really didn't want to drink and the Connor girls kept coming around, offering solo cups with cheap Andre fruit-flavored champagne. She would just shake her head and say no thank you and they would quit bothering her. Then they'd see if anyone wanted a refill, and they'd remember she didn't want any, so they wouldn't bother her. And Connor is like...the "hardcore" Eating House. </p>
<p>I would say it's a bell-curve -- the less common kids are the ones who NEVER drink and, even more so, the kids who go WAY too far. </p>
<p>Also, every year, four halls (this year, 3rd Rich, 4th Rich, 3rd Cannon, and 4th Cannon), two male, two female, are sectioned off to be "substance free" or simply, sub-free. You're allowed to drink if you live on one of those halls, but you're never allowed back on the hall if you're drunk (so they rarely drink), and you're not allowed to have any kind of substance (tobacco, alcohol, other drugs) on the hall or on your person on the hall at any time. </p>
<p>There are plenty of people not on sub-free who don't drink. There are plenty of people on sub-free who go out, drink, sober up, and come back in time for bed.<br>
It all comes down to personal choice.</p>
<p>Finally, very few people on campus do drugs. Occasionally, you'll find someone who smokes pot or who has, but almost never worse than that. I'm pretty sure if you get caught once or twice with pot, you're out. </p>
<p>There are many seriously fun options provided by the school to entertain the kids for the people who are not into the drinking/dancing/partying/loud music scene. Every Wednesday night, down at the outpost (Union satellite restaurant down the hill), they have trivia or karaoke or something fun to do. In the Union, they offer nights with free Chick-fil-A or Moes, for example. They'll pull down a giant projector screen in the 900 room and show a movie that hasn't been released yet (we got to see Dark Knight, among others more than a month before the DVD/bluray release) or let you play Guitar Hero or Rock Band or DDR with your friends. They'll have board game nights. For holidays, they'll do big celebrations. This year, their turned the Union Atrium into a big pit full of fake snow (that looked and felt real) and let us have snowball fights, make snow-angels, and build snowmen. There was also gingerbread house building, free hot coco and cider, and tree-decorating. One time they brought in a spa group for a "relax" Friday -- free massages, soothing music, and free acupuncture (which was AWESOME). They bring in celebrities and big-name bands to perform -- they've had the Black Eyed Peas, Peter Costas, and the Fray most recently. Plus, there are always the basketball games.<br>
They really put on a show for you.</p>
<p>The Union will occasionally host "21 only" night in the 900 room.</p>
<p>Wow, that was....thorough!</p>
<p>It sounds good to me, lol</p>
<p>SO GREAT about party here!!!!!! I regret that I have not asked this question earlier to include those information into my supp . Haha, thanks so much Alice!!!</p>
<p>Sure thing, Duong! :)</p>
<p>wow... this makes me want to go to davidson even more!</p>
<p>I'm really glad to hear it! </p>
<p>As thorough as the above is, there are a few things I've forgotten that I want to add.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Substance Free Housing:<br>
A. There is (I just learned this), every year, a hall or two for upperclassmen who want to live on a sub-free hall.<br>
B. Make sure that if you apply for sub-free housing, it's what you really want. Every year, there are at least ten people of each gender who apply for sub-free but don't get it because it's full. So, if it's something you decide on a whim or something you won't be able to live with (if you think you do in fact want to experiment a little bit in college with drinking, or if you smoke cigarettes), don't throw your name in the pot.
C. While sub-free kids are rarely picked on or stigmatized, there is an unfairly created stereotype regarding their lifestyle. The kids who choose to live sub-free on campus are often described as quiet, avoidant, and overachieving. The labels <em>are</em> applicable to some sub-free students. Third Rich, as a whole, does tend to be quiet. But the girls are very close to each other and do a lot of activities together as a hall. Fourth Rich, on the other hand is extremely loud and extremely rowdy. These boys are respectful to one another, but they do tend to frequently host large video game tournaments or movie marathons in the lounge, and they have had several large parties on their hall featuring Root-BEER pong, Ginger ALE Kings, and Never-Have-I-Ever using Cheer-WINE. It's cute. Clearly, these kids are not avoidant. Those who are...well, they're certainly exceptions, and I'm sure they can be found all over campus and not just on sub-free halls. Many of them <em>do</em> study much harder than other people on campus. But that's certainly not all they do.
(I'm not living on a sub-free hall, by the way -- I live on 4th Watts)</p></li>
<li><p>First Night Down:
For the first three or four weeks of school, freshmen are not permitted "down the hill" to the senior apartments (like F and B), the eating houses (Rusk, Warner, Connor, Turner), the BSC (Black Student Coalition House) or the frats (SigEp, FIJI, PhiDelt, SAE, KA, KS, PKA--actually now off-campus and you <em>can</em> visit) to party. Freshmen can still party on their halls or down the hill at the nasty sophomore apartments (Irwin, Akers, Knox). If you are found partying down the hill at prohibited locations, there are serious repercussions, not just for you, but for the residents or members of the place where you were and for whichever upperclassmen sanctioned your entrance. There are plenty of Union Board events for freshmen instead. The theory behind the delayed First Night Down is that the freshmen class should bond before parties are open to them. Partying is much safer if you are with friends -- that's a fact. All parties are open after FND and there are plenty of them as frats/eating houses quickly attempt to recruit new members as soon as they possibly can.<br>
Freshmen are not permitted to join social organizations (frats/eating houses/sororities) during their first semester on campus.
There are freshmen who do go down the hill before FND. Again, they're risking a lot doing so.<br>
The average GPA of students in social organizations is no different from that of students who choose not to join eating houses and frats.
Again, all of the parties are open, so there is no <em>need</em> to join an eating house or fraternities.</p></li>
<li><p>Court Selection Night -- Apparently the biggest party time of the year and quickly approaching for the ladies of the class of 2012, this is the night when the Eating House lottery system results are released. You join eating houses by submitting the list of the houses in the order of your preference. You are highly likely to get into your first choice house. I'm going out for Rusk.</p></li>
</ol>