<p>My son is interested in substance free housing primarily, I believe, because he doesn’t want someone smoking pot in the room. After reading old threads, though, I picked up a possible weird vibe to the substance free housing. Some posters indicated many kids who chose this housing are more extreme on this issue, but not the average kid who just doesn’t want to use substances. Maybe it’s a mix of both?? Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>During orientation my freshman year, they brought in a speaker. The speaker said something to the effect of “Turn to the person next to you and share your most hilarious drinking story.” After that happened, he asked us to raise our hands if our answer had been “I’ve never had a drink before.” Although it was the distinct minority, there were some of us. He went on to talk about how it must have been awkward for some people to have told some crazy story only to hear that their neighbor had never had anything to drink before. It certainly was a bit awkward for the person next to me, though she did make an effort to understand why. I believe that part of the “weird vibe” does come from this; how it’s strange for some that teenagers away from their parents could choose not to drink. People on Substance Free floors tend to not go to parties because of drinking (not true of all, but definitely of a good number).</p>
<p>Not many people are overly strict about substance free. There was at least one time when my roommate came back drunk even though we’re not supposed to. More than half of my floor drank, but they didn’t want to do so at school. I was the only one on my floor of 23 who elected to continue living substance free the fall of my Sophomore year - most of them continue not to drink, but didn’t want to live substance free anymore. From my experience this year, I’ve come to the conclusion that I would prefer to live in regular housing with friends than in substance free with people I don’t know, but I came to this conclusion after signing up for substance free housing for next year. If I had a roommate who drank a couple times in the room, I wouldn’t make a big deal of it. If I had a roommate who was continuously coming back intoxicated, then there would be some issues. Other people would have had much looser or stricter tolerance. I’d assume it’s a mix of people, and they may be even laxer than you’d expect (some people are there because their parents signed them up, and while some are respectful, others are not).</p>
<p>I believe it depends on what your son is looking for. There were 2 parties with alcohol on my floor last year, despite its status as substance free. One person just forgot they were substance free, the other didn’t seem to care. One was reported, the other was not. My current (non-substance free) floor does not seem to have much in the way of substance use, but that’s not likely the norm. I do recommend substance free as a freshman before branching out if he wishes to avoid the possibility of a roommate/floormate using/abusing substances nearby.</p>
<p>Based on my experience as a freshman (which, admittedly, is now from 5 years ago), your son is highly unlikely to end up with a roommate who smokes pot in the room against his wishes. If that is all he is worried about, there is probably no reason to choose sub-free.</p>
<p>As for alcohol:</p>
<p>About a third of my good friends freshman year were teetotalers. Those of us who drank did not really pressure them to drink, and they never seemed to have a problem with living among drinkers. There are a lot of problems that people can have with others in the close living quarters of a college dorm, and the spill-over effects of excessive drinking is but one of those many.</p>
<p>Personally, I lived in Europe from the time I was 16 to 18. I regularly drank socially, legally, in public, throughout high school. There was school-sponsored beer, wine, and liquor at my prom. So, my relationship with alcohol was quite different (healthier, I’d say) from most who entered college alongside me. Most of the people I know who entered college with an I’ll-never-drink attitude - the sort of people who I imagine choose sub free willingly - did so not because of a genuine aversion to alcohol, but because of an aversion to the social context in which alcohol appears in high school. By the end of college, most of these people had become responsible occasional drinkers.</p>
<p>(In fairness, there was also a minority with a history of alcoholism in their family, who were worried about having to fight their own personal demons. Other students are especially - and extremely - respectful of such a decision.)</p>
<p>Thanks, I really didn’t think pot or even alcohol use in the room would be a big deal as based on mutual respect and discussion it probably wouldn’t happen. But, I don’t want to nix my son’s idea if he wants substance free housing. I just had read (maybe Uroogla) about people not hanging around on their floor so I wondered if he might have less in common with those who choose substance-free housing. He’s a kid who wants to hang out, have fun, play video games, etc. but not use substances. I, personally, hope he continues to not want to use substances so less exposure seems good to me, too. But I also hope that he connects with the kids on his floor.</p>
<p>We had no problem with other people hanging out with us. More prevalent was that people on our floor were less likely to go elsewhere to hang out. And that’s something your son could control and so wouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>Personally, I am substance-free although I do not live nor did I ask to live on the substance-free floor. On the other hand, my boyfriend does live on a substance-free floor.</p>
<p>I guess it could go both ways. Sometimes my hall does smell like marijuana and it ANNOYS ME to no end. However, there is a room on my boyfriend’s floor that houses a student that smokes weed and is so misbehaved that if he gets caught by Brown’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) one more time, the student will be suspended (from Brown!! Imagine how difficult that is!).</p>
<p>My roommate and I get along very well. I just told her, “Hey. Please don’t drink or smoke anything in here. I’m asthmatic and blahblah.” I had no problems. My boyfriend’s roommate is quite antisocial.</p>
<p>I am not ashamed that I am substance-free. Actually, some of my hallmates have commended me for this.</p>
<p>Personally, I think my boyfriend is sort of narrow-minded in his substance-free-ness. I was asking him if he wanted to take EMT classes over the summer, and he said something along the lines of “I don’t want to work as an EMT because I don’t want to take care of dumb people who drank too much over their weekends.” My friend who is currently an EMT says that downwards of 10% of their calls are to help drunkards. I’m guessing that about 20% of students have not done anything “substance-y” and about 20 students total live on substance-free areas. There’s a lot more out there. </p>
<p>So, beware of that mentality too.</p>
<p>What sviola said.</p>
<p>Oh, I actually have a somewhat opposite experience (it was probably me, burry). I tend to go elsewhere to hang out, because I’m finding my closer friends aren’t part of the substance free floor. But lots of other people have no problem hanging out on the sub-free floor. But in Perkins itself, there’s large groups of people who either stick mostly to their own floor or who go down into the lounge to hang out/work/study/play video games. There’s also a group of third-floorers who tend to hang out on the second floor. It’s not like there’s a strict barrier where you can’t move or have good friends between floors and dorms.</p>
<p>@sviola: as to how many live on substance-free areas: there’s 50 or so on my floor, and I know that is at least one other substance-free floor on campus (Littlefield? Hope? not sure where…), but as you said, even among the general non-sub-free body there are a few non-drinkers. Just like most colleges.</p>
<p>There are sub-free floors in Perkins and Champlin. Littlefield has a quiet floor, and Hope is just regular housing.</p>
<p>It varies from year to year, though, so don’t count on getting a certain dorm by signing up for substance free.</p>