<p>About the whole sometimes alcohol is allowed in the room, I doubt that goes for a room with a minor in it, even if one roommate is legal I doubt it would be allowed in a dorm if not all those in the room could have alcohol. Besides the fact that drinking alcohol (I assume that’s what the roommate plans to do with it) is illegal if he’s underage, regardless of school policy. If the op is truly uncomfortable I think he should first talk to the roommate immediately, and if things don’t change within a few days to a week, to bring it up to higher authorities until it gets resolved in whatever way the school sees fit. I hope everything works out!</p>
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There are plenty of schools that allow it.</p>
<p>My school’s official policy is that students are adults (assuming 18+) and it is not the university’s job to narc on students who choose to have alcohol in their room if they are under 21.</p>
<p>Point 1 - if a group of students is drinking, and one gets so plastered that student emt’s need to be called, the students reporting will not get in trouble. Worst case scenario for the student who may need their stomach pumped is an alcohol education class (assuming first time offense).</p>
<p>Point 2 - campus police are not going to go looking in student rooms for alcohol (like the op implies happens at his/her school).</p>
<p>Point 3 - residential life and RA’s follow a simple rule - if you do not break REDFLAG (repeated, dangerous, flagrant, etc), no RA is going to bust you. Heck, my RA came into a room where we were all drinking beer & watching a football game and didn’t care at all (this was freshman year). Nor would any campus officer. Lots of RA’s are very strict against drinking games, but that’s a different story (and apparently violates the “dangerous” aspect of redflag).</p>
<p>Last point - my campus is a wet campus, so our rules are far more relaxed than dry campuses.</p>
<p>Tl;dr: there are indeed schools that are fine with students <21 having alcohol, provided they aren’t being idiots about it.</p>
<p>To the OP - if the booze in the room makes you uncomfortable (especially if it can land you in trouble), just talk to your roommate about it. If they are unreasonable, bring it to an RA. But no need to immediately jump ship and request a roommate change on day 2.</p>
<p>There are schools that get bent out of shape to find alcohol in a kid’s room. I don’t know where OP is. This summer I did a project at a school that, despite it’s reputation, would flag you for having any hint of booze. The littlest thing could set wheels in motion (easy ones, at first, but nonetheless.) My kids, otoh, have been allowed, since freshman day one.</p>
<p>Maybe I should have phrased better, the way the op is talking, it seems like their school falls into that category. And again, even if the school doesn’t care it is illegal and the op and anyone else has the right to complain, whether or not anything will be done is a different story. But I agree that talking to the roommate first is a good idea, he may not have even thought that the op would feel weird about and may feel bad for putting him in an uncomfortable situation. But it does sound like the op is on a dry campus and they seem to care more about alcohol there than at some schools. Sorry if I offended anyone with my earlier post, just going off of what I’ve seen and heard about schools</p>
<p>Also, at my school at least, you have to wait something like two weeks before you switch roommates at all, for any reason. Personally, as long as the roommate isn’t drinking or smoking in the room, I don’t think it’s really your business. </p>
<p>If there are legit room checks for alcohol and the roommate can also get in trouble if there is alcohol on roomie’s side (seems unlikely in a place where they do consistent room checks), then I guess it would be reasonable to ask him not to have the alcohol. You still can’t do anything about tobacco products though. I would say that if this guy is nice otherwise, don’t judge him on what he chooses to do in his spare time, see if you can find a way to peacefully coexist. He might wind up being a good friend, you have no idea at this stage. </p>
<p>Oh, and don’t rat the guy out. Getting busted for having alcohol in college because your roommate doesn’t like it is terrible, and in case you can’t change rooms for some reason it will make him hate you. If he’s quiet and discreet about it, who cares?</p>
<p>@ Lookingforward. That’s true that some colleges do permit alcohol on campus in the dorms, but only to students of legal age. 19 is not legal age to drink. Which the OP says that’s his roommates age.</p>
<p>I don’t know why that even matters. If a 21 year old is haring rooms with an 18 year old, the 21 year old can buy alcohol, bring it to the dorm and share it with the underage roommate. I’m 100% sure universities are aware of this, they are not stupid. But I don’t think they actually care if you share it with an underage roommate in your dorm. I think the “policies” is just a front, to tell outsiders and media “look, we have rules, we care”. Just don’t get caught sharing it, and you’ll be good. Universities don’t go out of there way to prevent this anyway.</p>
<p>you should consider telling someone. kids have stuff they shouldnt in college all the time. that being said for some reason if there is a report, you could get in trouble for the stuff in there too. and you dont want that</p>