<p>I do not have any experience with a wet campus other than Rice, so I don't know if my observations apply across the board. My "experience" now is as a parent, not a student.</p>
<p>I fully support the wet campus practice! This is possibly because I don't have a kid who drinks, so my observations are somewhat skewed by that fact. However.. kids who drink are going to drink. Rice keeps them safe (and the community at large) by keeping the parties on campus. </p>
<p>There is a real sense of community between the students and they really do watch each other's backs. There is security (both student and campus police) at every party... this is to keep the students safe and sane and out of harm's way (legally or otherwise). There is no one watching (or caring) in off campus parties (generically.. I do not know specifically about Rice). There are lots of sober eyes watching and caring on the Rice campus. </p>
<p>I think that because of the alcohol culture, there is next to no drug culture. </p>
<p>My S seems to have only one real complaint about the parties on campus and that is that on the weekends he'd like to go to bed earlier because of having had late nights during the week doing homework and studying, and the noise keeps him from getting to bed as early as he wants. He (thinks he) wishes that there was a greek community at Rice so that the parties would be moved "off" campus. (Note... the load isn't so heavy that he has to be up late doing school work.. that is his choice.)</p>
<p>Not once has S felt like he needed to participate. I don't know though what it is like if you want to go to the party and not drink. It is my understanding that there is no pressure to drink. My S finds friends and things to do outside of the party. He's very happy socially and absolutely does not feel like he is missing out on anything by not attending the parties.</p>
<p>I do know that this a sensitive subject, but I wanted to share some thoughts. Please feel free to IM me (as a parent or student or prospective student) if there is anything I can attempt to answer (or more specifically, provide an opinion about).</p>
<p>I talked a little about this in relation to another school, and while it might seem odd, I agree with you. At the other school, there was a very big drinking culture, and it seemed to me that there exists a poor relationship between the students and the campus police. That, in my opinion, is the important factor. My daughter is not a drinker, and I don’t see that changing too much at college. I don’t have any real objections to moderate alcohol use (I am.net going to pretend that I never drank in college) but I think that the culture of whatever school she attends has to emphasize student safety. Whether out not she does choose to drink, I want her to be in a safe environment.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for all Texan’s, but as for where I grew up it’s not a big deal. We used to cross the border to Mexico to go party since we were like 14 years old or so.</p>
<p>^ I think you are right. I grew up in OK, where drinking was part of life, and not such a big deal.</p>
<p>snugapug’s comment worries me… I want to say loud and clear…</p>
<p>the responsibility lies within you and your fellow students to stay safe and sane, which allows Rice to stay wet. it’s a huge responsibility. don’t blow it, as a number of students this year have and therefore some policy changes are being implemented. the actions of a few affect all.</p>
<p>Although it’s explicitly prohibited under the policy and law, the culture at Rice permits anyone to drink, and the enforcement of the policy is quite lax. For example, some under-21s had the gumption to drink in from of RAs, who clearly weren’t pleased but didn’t do anything about the drinking. </p>
<p>As for policy changes, that’s more of lipservice to the media. Nothing will realistically change because even though the policy might change, the enforcement likely won’t.</p>
<p>I disagree with yoyoman1. The new policy hasn’t been finalized yet, but it will result in changes. There have already been many discussions at my residential college about the changes and how they will impact our culture. One thing will certainly remain the same: as long as the door remains shut, RUPD will not enter. However, there will be enforcement changes next year related to public spaces.</p>
<p>There’s definitely a drug culture outside of alcohol, it’s just less visible. Mainly weed, but it’s not too hard to get access to harder drugs and at least a handful of people at each college do hard drugs regularly. Weed is really the only other drug you’d run into that you wouldn’t have to be actively looking for - RUPD and the RAs (at least at some colleges) are definitely aware of it too, but no one really cares about pot.</p>
<p>It’s really not that bad having a wet campus. There’s honestly no pressure to drink, and though it was a bit…interesting smelling the alcohol in the air on the first weekend, it’s not that big of a distraction for non-drinkers.</p>
<p>Each college throws one public party per semester, but they’re usually in the commons, so the noise doesn’t travel that far and at most is distracting one weekend out of the entire semester. There’s also usually “party” floors at each college, and if you put on your roommate form that you prefer a quiet area, the Oweek coordinators are usually good to not put you on the party floor.</p>
<p>@jumpercable your last 2 sentences >>> when people not only tell you about the school, but also tell you to attend if accepted. No wonder they are the happiest students in the nation. I really hope I get accepted!!! And hopefully financial aid is generous too!</p>
<p>Rice really is fantastic, and I hope you get in too! There’s a place for everyone here, especially given the amazing college system (Baker, Hell Yeah). And Rice’s financial aid is touted as pretty generous, so that’s a plus!</p>
<p>@sjong21, I don’t know what you mean about issues with the wet campus policy. Officially, Rice says “we obey federal and state laws aka no underage drinking,” but in reality, if you want to drink, you can. RUPD can’t and won’t bust into closed doors, and realistically, the only way you’d get in trouble is if you were openly drinking in the public as a minor and RUPD happens to walk by. </p>
<p>If you mean problems as in rowdy drunk people, well of course they’re rowdy drunks on the weekend, but most of them are fairly nice, and there’s always a place you can get away from it all, usually the commons.</p>