Drinking: know the rules of the game

In case you haven't figured it out, the Yale experience is by no means solely academic. Drinking is an integral part of Yale social life. Many students, though, choose not to partake in the bacchanals that spill out of college entryways and fraternity houses every weekend.

Yale University's official stance on alcohol consumption is deliniated in a small, bland booklet entitled "Undergraduate Regulations." According to this source, possession, use, or distribution of alcohol on University property or at University-related events is prohibited if you're under 21.

Recently, the University and the police have been moving toward stricter enforcement of these laws. Untouchables-esque raids organized by the New Haven police, the State Liquor Control Agency, and University police have frightened a lot of drinking establishments, and stricter carding policies have subsequently been implemented. Still, there are certain locales where undergraduates traditionally have been, and always will be, allowed to get alcohol, and carding at most other places remains sporadic. Official Yale functions serve only to people who flash a card issued to students over 21.

Private parties serving alcohol that expect more than 20 guests are required to register with the college master or dean (although no one actually does this). In order to register, someone who is at least 21 must be listed as a host. These parties are required to post the legal drinking age, but the "You must be at least 21 to drink" signs are more striking for their irony than for their effect. The only rule Yale enforces stringently is the one prohibiting kegs on Old Campus.

Regardless, booze flows freely among freshmen. Since there aren't any parents to restrain you, getting trashed, bombed, or whatever seems to be the thing to do...but wait, don't chug yet! Be assured that abstaining from alcohol is a respected option at Yale and that a significant number of Yalies have never downed, and never will down, a beer.

A lot of students simply feel no need to drink. "Why should I?" they ask themselves. Others are locked in a bitter battle against the bottle, claiming that it is the root of a host of social evils. A moderated version of that stance--that drunkenness forfeits self-control-- is another forceful rationale.

Some people feel acutely self-conscious vomiting in public. Some don't drink for religious reasons, others because they don't like the taste. Whatever your reasons, your decision to drink or not to drink will be respected if you respect the decisions of others. Not surprisingly, even the most dedicated drinkers find that the novelty of booze-induced fun can wear off over four years. Most students agree that there is no barrier to fellowship between the sober and the spun.

But the fact remains, you can get it if you want it, and you can always drink in your own room. Yale's unofficial policy on alcohol is: if you are not being a nuisance or destroying property, chances are that nobody will bother you.

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