<p>There was a CC poster named Lucifer who just died from alcohol poisoning this spring break. Then I just found out about the Lacrosse team members who were suspended last year at Rice. </p>
<p>So my question is this: What is the drinking culture like at Rice? Is it hard to be a non-drinker at Rice?</p>
<p>good Q... i mean, it cant be hard if ur sufficently willed not to drink... but is it common and encouraged by the student population?</p>
<p>My dad asked this question to our tour guide when we visited Rice last weekend, and he said that yes, there are students who drink regularly on and off campus, but there are also students who choose not to drink on campus or at all. Our guide told us that he himself didn't drink on campus and he never felt pressured to do so.</p>
<p>I have posted on this subject so many times before. Please search the archives!</p>
<p>In short, I don't drink, I have found tons of other things to do on campus, plenty of friends who drink in moderation, and no pressure to drink. </p>
<p>That said, if you want to drink, you certainly can and people definitely do. But it's your choice. Do what you feel comfortable doing.</p>
<p>Drinking in college was there, is there and will be there. As jenskate mentioned IT IS UP TO YOU.</p>
<p>Yeah, but when groups like the Lacrosse teams initiate players by forcing them to drink, I think I need to stop, wake up, and ask questions. I don't want to assume anything, especially when you read about so many traditions that include drinking. </p>
<p>Also, in a suit brought by one of the lacrosse team leaders, she claimed that underage drinking at Rice is rampant and it is common for students to go to hospital emergency rooms. So is it isolated? Or common?</p>
<p>I will look at the archives Jenskate. Thanks.</p>
<p>Underage drinking IS rampant at Rice, but no more so than at any other college. My D is a junior and is a responsible drinker. The culture hasn't bothered her one way or the other (after 1st week freshman year when someone threw up on their room landing from up above). There are always incidents of abuse, but you are going to find that everywhere (except maybe Bob Jones or BYU). As Jen said, you can certainly find much to do that doesnt' involve drinking. My D is active in her church group (although since it is Episcopalian, there is drinking involved for those old enough) and goes to many performances at the Shepherd School.</p>
<p>Thanks to all.</p>
<p>My son goes to Rice and does not drink, some of his friends do and some don't and some drink a lot (but that's at every college campus), but there is no pressure to drink.
He worked at some of his colleges parties, proofing people on their age.
There is no Greek life on campus, so you avoid a big problem area. </p>
<p>There is also a great policy, The good samaritan policy, which is that if someone you know has had too much to drink you can call security and not get in trouble. The reason so many kids die on other campuses is that students are afraid to call for help and let students "sleep" it off. They don't need sleep, they need their stomachs pumped. I'd rather be at Rice where help can be had.
It seems to me an "excuse" that the lacrosse team leaders claimed that culture was the problem. It's all a matter of taking personal responsibility for your own actions. But at least at Rice you won't be left abandoned by your "friends". .</p>
<p>Just to clarify, Lacrosse team members were never forced to drink. They were told both verabally and in writing that they did not have to partcipate, and some new members chose not to. However, Rice still felt this was hazing because they felt that the new students might have thought that they should take part in order to gain acceptance from older team members. A good friend of mine was one of the students taken to the hospital that night, so I feel for the students who were supposedly hazed. However, I think that ALL involved should have thought more carefully about the consequences before CHOOSING to take part.</p>
<p>The girl who brought the suit did argue that this was part of the culture at Rice, and I don't really disagree with her. As someone said, underage drinking is rampant here, but it is a similar situation at tons and tons of colleges. This is a college problem, not a Rice problem, exactly. It is true that people here sometimes go to the hospital. At our annual night of decadence party, for example, about 5-8 people/ year go to the hospital. Most of them are not seriously ill, but people's friends want to be on the safe side. At a party of maybe 1600 people, it's quite a small percentage. You just need to be smart for yourself.</p>
<p>drinking its common in every campus get over it. if you want a puritanistic environment choose baylor undergrad. there is drinking in most colleges.</p>
<p>
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if you want a puritanistic environment choose baylor undergrad.
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</p>
<p>Baylor is actually worse, I think.</p>
<p>im just saying..its a little unrealistic to look for a college where people dont drink. the world its not black and white. at every college people will be drinking, there will be drugs, sex, every bad aspect of society is present. there is no need to be worried, i dont believe they force it upon you and there is no need to partake in it. when i was in rice vision, there was alchol in this private party in this doorm i went to...nobody foced it on me...it was cool.</p>
<p>the alcohol policy is, as horrible as this may seem, one of the main reasons i chose rice over other schools. i enjoy drinking, most of the time moderately, and sometimes not so moderately (gotta love those gin and tonics lol). at rice, i know i will be able to indulge in an environment that does not necessarily encourage drinking, but tolerates it and realizes that alcohol is very much a part of most western cultures. id hate to go to a school where one is pressured into drinking abusively...i think rice was smart to take the route they did. its just so much safer. they accept the substance abuse problem at college campuses and try to work with it; they dont try to wage a war that they cant win. like say for example the us gov't's "war on drugs". but i digress.....</p>
<p>The lacrosse "hazing" incident (my DD was a member of the lacrosse team, did not attend or participate in this, but heard about it from other members), was an example of stupidity from smart kids who should have known better. It was dealt with swiftly and appropriately by the university, (which I heartily approve of), and the students who thought up the scheme were suspended for a year. DD drinks very lightly, and has friends who drink lightly, not at all, or some. We were on campus this weekend and there were 4 performances going on (one orchestra concert, two colleges-sponsored musicals, and a Shakespeare play- just an incredible amount of activity for a school of only 2800 undergrads.). We saw kids playing golf with tennis balls - some of whom had beers in their hands. We stopped and talked to lots of kids - there are so many really nice, friendly, outgoing kids involved in lots and lots and lots of activities. Yes, kids drink - but there are so many things to do that don't involve alchohol.</p>
<p>to the op, i think its much easier to be a non-drinker here than at other colleges. i wouldn't go so far as to call our underage drinking rampant; i think mild is closer to the mark. </p>
<p>in my college, unless you live in a certain area that only has 4 rooms, there is very, very little drinking going on. supposedly we have a reputation for drinking, but i live here and find pretty much no evidence to uphold that reputation. </p>
<p>for the number of students we have, the amount of things to do is pretty impressive to me. on the weekends there are a lot of things going if you sign up for enough mailing lists and carefully read the new passport section of students.rice.edu. personally i wish there were more drinking, even though i'm not a big drinker.</p>
<p>As the parent of a UT-Austin student, I agree that drinking problems are everywhere. I am particularly concerned by underage drinking, which is a crime. It continues to surprise me that people at CC never mention this. A lot of the bad judgment in choosing when and where to drink comes from lack of maturity because they are underage. And before everyone tells me that there isn't much difference between 18 and 22, think about how much you changed going from a senior in high school to a senior in college.</p>
<p>By the way SREIS, which is it? Are you an 8th grader thinking of law school as you posted over in the Law School Forum or are you really a Rice student?</p>
<p>DRJ4- There are, of course, reasons not to consume alcohol or other substances, but these reasons should stem from a persons own values, not fear of a minor criminal offense.</p>
<p>BratOnTheBeat:</p>
<p>Please ease my mind by telling me you don't want to be a lawyer when you grow up.</p>
<p>DRJ4, very sorry you fell into the trap of taking me seriously on the law school board (big laugh). it should be obvious to the people who frequent the board that younger and younger posters are asking ridiculously naive questions about law school, and my post was a jab at that. </p>
<p>i agree with braton, the law is a moral one and should be understood in a moral way. you aren't mature "because you are underage." i find that kind of silly. how much you change has little to do with it, how much the law changes on the other hand...</p>
<p>if adults were told they could go back to college as full-time students with little regard to money or social responsibility, you better believe they would party hardy. the law is more to curtail a general lifestyle and point in one's life, not really because 18-21 year olds are immature ourselves. i guess i don't expect you to agree with this, but the point is that this is simply how college is socially designed, and if you call living that life immature, then go back to your mature habits of doing taxes and having a legal drink at applebee's on a splendid friday evening.</p>