Globe article on alcohol free dorms

Chug chug chug? Nah. Student desire for booze-free housing growing at local
colleges.

By Hilary Burns Globe Staff, Updated October 18, 2023, 5:59 a.m.

Partying in college isn’t what it used to be. For a growing number of Massachusetts college students, it’s an evening of board games, movies, and tacos in a dorm with no kegs in the basement, and no smoking pot out the window.

Officials with the College of the Holy Cross, Tufts University, and Boston College report a recent uptick in interest from students looking for living environments without alcohol.
The reasons range from personal or familial struggles with alcohol, a desire for a healthier lifestyle and deeper relationships, to an increased awareness of the dangers of alcohol.

Several students said substance-free halls, or houses, provide a calm space for community-building and authentic friendships, away from overserved peers stumbling back to the dorms. The growing trend echoes 2020 research that found the number of US college students who abstained from alcohol increased from 20 percent to 28 percent between 2002 and 2018.

“Some of my closest friends on campus are from this place,” Styx Parrett, a Tufts student from Kansas, said about their substance-free dorm.
While technically, just about all college dorms are supposed to be free of alcohol and drugs, they’re not. But students in these particular residences pledge to abstain from substance use while living there, and college officials and students said they abide by it.
Substance-free housing is becoming a more popular choice for students wanting to live away from social pressures and the temptations of alcohol and drugs.

“Physical and mental health is huge for students,” said Christina Alch, Tufts’s director of residential life and learning. “And this generation has a huge focus on their well-being. A lot of our students report wanting to be a part of a community where they know other students share their values and interests. While a lot of our students will find that through clubs and organizations, the substance-free housing also provides that within their home.”

Mindy Duggan, a graduate student at Boston University and recent Tufts graduate, said she made the decision not to drink in high school for her own physical and mental wellbeing, and she was worried about being surrounded by a party culture in college. The fact Tufts offered substance-free living options on campus was a big selling point. She found community among like-minded peers and said some of her closest friendships were formed in Tufts’s substance-free residence.
“I just had an amazing time from the get-go,” Duggan said.
In a typical year, about 40 first-year students will express a desire to live in substancefree housing at Tufts, Alch said. Interest jumped this academic year to 108 first-year students wanting to live there, plus 17 upper-year students.
One of Tufts’s substance-free buildings was recently renovated, a project supported financially by Tufts graduate and actor Hank Azaria, the voice behind many characters on “The Simpsons.” Azaria, who has struggled with alcohol abuse and is now sober, said in a recent interview with the Globe that he thinks it’s important for colleges to provide housing options for students who abstain from
“I remember being on that campus and drunk as a skunk quite a lot,” Azaria said. “What it would have meant to me to have a place where I could have investigated that problem, and to know that there was another choice of how to live.”

The renovated dorm, aptly called Simpson House, now has an outdoor space with a patio, grill, and games, including cornhole. Azaria, coincidentally, lived in that same house during his sophomore year.
“I know what it meant to me to find my people in college,” Azaria said. “I was always in the theater. I was in the drama department, which became my family. And I noticed a similar thing happened to them. They just all live together over a common interest, and that created this bond.”
Actor Hank Azaria delivered the commencement address at Tufts in 2016.
Azaria declined to disclose the value of his donation. He also donated four animation cels from “The Simpsons” — original handmade art of the characters before the animation process became digital — to the house.

An annual survey of incoming students at Holy Cross shows that more students every year are opting not to drink, prompting college administrators to offer substance-free housing last year for the first time.

Lily Nguyen, a fourth-year student at Holy Cross, was the resident adviser for substance free dorm rooms last year and said everyone there had a blast. She remembers one particularly popular outing where students journeyed to the Natick Mall before enjoying Thai food back in the communal kitchen.

“I know the stereotype that media portrays [about] substance-free — it’s like no fun and they’re the quieter ones in the group,” Nguyen said. “I wanted to change that narrative where it is fun, and you can still hang out with people who use substances. It’s just more so a lifestyle people have [that is] more laid back. Going back to the home that’s quiet and relaxing.”

BC officials said they have also seen an increased interest in substance-free living over the years.
“We wonder if the increase is due to a shift in attitudes towards substance use, so the healthy living community is more appealing to students,” said Jeannine Kremer, the university’s director of the Center for Student Wellness.

Parrett, the third-year Tufts student from Kansas, said addiction runs in their family, so it was important to find a community to “help make sure I wouldn’t have to worry about alcohol issues or drug issues,” as a college student.

“We don’t really go to parties or anything — it’s just us hanging out and just enjoying each other,” Parrett said. “Last year, there was a really fun taco night and there was a table just absolutely covered in taco stuff and it was so nice just to eat and hang out with friends. . . . We just sat on the floor for two hours eating, watching movies, and hanging out.”

Hilary Burns can be reached at hilary.burns@globe.com. Follow her @hilarysburns.

Thank you for posting, HC 13

I signed up for the "substance free" floor in Mulledy my freshman year on the advice of my older brother, who assured me that his sub-free experience at Middlebury merely meant that there were no parties on the floor, but he and his roommate and other friends on the floor still went to parties and partook in the festivities.

My experience was far different. There were maybe one or two other guys on the floor who, like me, still wanted to go to parties and drink but just wanted assurances that they wouldn't have to worry about loud parties next door when they wanted to sleep. Made for a lousy freshman year, if I'm being honest, and I couldn't wait to get out of sub-free after freshman year.

It also made for a fun HC disciplinary experience the one night when a friend and I returned drunk (he ended up having to get his stomach pumped) and were subsequently threatened with getting kicked out of the dorm unless we ratted out the people who supplied the alcohol at the party we went to. We called their bluff, including when they threatened to get the police involved. I have to admit that it was hard to keep a straight face during that last part, as the thought of calling the Worcester PD to investigate two freshmen who drank too much a week ago is a legitimately funny "threat" to make.

Might not seem like a big deal, but strictly speaking providing alcohol to a minor is a crime.  Furthermore, this crime resulted in the minor needing medical treatment.  Not a stretch to think police could be involved

Now-a-days, lots of schools have get out of jail free card when you seek medical attention for someone who was doing something wrong

I was at Holy Cross from 2006-2010 and can tell you one of my best friends had the same exact experience. His older brother did sub-free at BC, and it was mainly made up of kids who either wanted to live in a clean dorm or who weren't huge partiers in HS but wanted to ease into the drinking scene in college. So he recommended my friend try that route here. At Holy Cross at that time, sub-free was very straight edge and comprised a very small number of people, even when you factor in the size of school. The men's sub-free was just one hall in Clark IIRC, and that was all four classes combined. My friend had a hard time finding a close friend group until late sophomore year when thankfully he met us. And now he recently bought a house in Beverly, in part because "it's close to a lot of great breweries and dispensaries."

The sub-free experience at Holy Cross may be different for alum who matriculated at different times. My theory as to why it was so bad when I was there was because at the time you also had the First Year Program option, where all participants were housed in Hanselman. FYP was not sub-free but, in addition to the seminar-style academic program, had a reputation of being a little bit dorkier and a little bit less of a party scene than Mulledy and Wheeler. So the type of person who isn't totally against drinking but also would want to ease into the college party scene would be more likely to have chosen this option as opposed to sub-free.