YES- Alice King
It’s true that getting wasted every single night will get you nowhere fast, as far as your degree is concerned at least. Heavy drinking can be harmful to your energy levels, your general wellbeing and, quite often, your dignity. However, it’s more than possible to enjoy the university drinking culture without going to excess.
Sure, we’ve all heard of someone who has been sent to hospital, found themselves in a fi ght, or been banned from one of the many establishments in town because of their drinking habits – but like other things that become available to us as adults, alcohol comes with the condition of responsible use. Personally, I am a fan of doing everything in moderation.
While this does mean saying no to a week of Camera Tuesdays, followed by Park End, Bridge and Wahoo before crashing over the weekend, it doesn’t mean going teetotal either. There’s a lot to be said for having a couple of drinks during or at the end of the week.
It’s no secret – alcohol lowers your inhibitions. That beautiful person you’ve seen at the bar but are far too scared to talk to? Double vodka red bull will sort that out for you. Worried about your awful dancing and your tendency to be just a little bit weird? A couple of ciders down, you really won’t care. I mean, how many of us can say we didn’t need a bit of booze during freshers’ week to fi ght the awkwardness that fi lled our halls?
Alcohol simply makes everyone a bit more interesting – or you a little less likely to notice if they aren’t. In all seriousness, we all need a way to relax. After essays, tutorials and lectures at the crack of dawn, we’ve more than earned ourselves a few drinks in the evening. Drinking is a social activity and brings us out of the libraries and musty bedrooms into communal spaces, giving us the rest we need and the interaction we crave. Lying in bed watching Game of Thrones might be good, clean fun, but it won’t leave you with a funny story to tell or a weirdly shaped scar to show off .
Certainly, among some groups there is a culture of excess – see the sad rugby “lads” who always feel as though there’s something to prove and the exclusive drinking societies that are far too cool to interact with the rest of us – but as an individual, there’s no need to replicate this. Getting a bit too merry once or twice won’t do much harm, and will land you with some brilliant pictures to look at in the morning.
There will be times when you’ll deeply regret the amount of time you spent drinking at university – namely during the 9am tutorial when the room is spinning and you smell like the curry sauce from last night. But drinking at university has only helped me enjoy my time here more. They say that you can’t buy happiness– but you can certainly rent it from the bar staff for a couple of pounds per pint.
NO- Nick Mutch
Experience has taught me and many others that for all the temporary enjoyment alcohol brings to university, it is in fact a most insidious poison that many campuses would be so much better off without. The culture of alcohol abuse at universities is farcical and juvenile at best, and deadly at worst.
A University of Sheffield study found that there is a consistent and strong correlation between the increase in the pricing of alcohol and a drop in violent crime. At universities, alcohol is considered to be a major contributing factor in a majority of serious crimes and injuries.
If you drink, you are more likely to assault or be assaulted, engage in risky sexual conduct, and become seriously injured – that much is fact. After only 3 drinks you are eleven times more likely to be involved in a car crash than a sober driver. In the age of social media, drinking to excess can even cost you your job. As students, we are often told that we need alcohol, how could we have fun without it? It’s our most important social lubricant!
This is a pathetic excuse. It is in fact a social crutch that many use to mask the symptoms of shyness or insecurity while doing nothing about the causes. Yes, it is easier to talk to people when you are drunk, but you present to them your most boorish, charmless self rather than your charisma, intellect or natural personality.
Anyone who has ever seen a video of themselves inhumanly smashed knows this is true. Alcohol gives you a false, fleeting courage that is a pitiful substitute for the real thing. Learning how to be sociable and confident while sober is difficult, but the rewards are far greater than the temporary buzz from alcohol. More importantly, time spent getting yourself absolutely wasted is at the expense of all other productive activity you could be doing.
Alcohol impairs your brain’s ability to process new information, as anyone who has ever had a wretched hangover can attest to. It makes it much harder to exercise or work out, and for those prone to mood disorders or depression, it makes it much harder to control one’s emotions. The relationship between alcohol and mental health issues is an ugly, self-perpetuating cycle of misery which students are particularly vulnerable to. I am certainly not in favour of banning alcohol.
Firstly, I am aware that prohibition does not work, and secondly, I do not think that occasional indulgence is intolerable. It’s true that drinking to excess can be a great deal of fun. But the benefits of having alcohol on campuses are nothing compared to their costs.
If I could somehow flick a switch that would turn off the supply of alcohol in the world, I would do it. I think the most dangerous part of our drinking culture is the fact that our first week of university is dedicated to getting hammered, creating a continuing impression that getting excessively drunk is a sign that we are “fun” or “laddish”. University should be a place where we come to enrich ourselves, not poison ourselves.
