The Problem of Underage Drinking in University

Within the three years that I have been attending Wilfrid Laurier University, I have noticed that there is a tremendous amount of pressure when it comes to drinking, and with these pressures may come some negative outcomes. With that being said, there are a lot of different pressures that go on within post-secondary education such as; the pressure of receiving good grades, pressure of making a good impression on your professors and the pressure of making new friends in a new environment.

There are plenty of pressures of alcohol consumption on campuses including events such as “Frosh week”. University is known for partying and drinking, therefore, one of the common forms of socializing is going out and drinking. Purchasing alcohol and typical college events that involve alcohol consumption is a fairly cheap form of socialization. Students feel as if in order to fit into the Laurier mentality they must engage with drinking, which becomes a social event for students to do. Wilfrid Laurier is surrounded by clubs and bars such as, Pub on King, Stark and Perri, Phils, and Chainsaw. Many students feel as if in order to maintain a social life and be a part of the university experience they must engage in alcohol consumption and parting. Bars are creating different marketing strategies to lure students to them by promoting drink specials or ‘ladies’ nights’. There are negative outcomes that may come to students and alcohol consumption, such as injuries, traffic injuries, assaults or alcohol addiction. As many people know Laurier is known for their Ezra parties on St. Patrick’s Day. Many students tend to drink a crazy amount of alcohol on this day which results to them being extremely drunk. From personal experience being on Ezra I have noticed a lot of students end up going to the hospital and having alcohol poising, or just walking on the streets you can see students vomiting due to how much they drink.

Students do not realize the type of impact that drinking can have on their lives. The consumption of alcohol has killed students, lead to students beening sexually assaulted, students have had been physically hurt as well as properties can be damaged when students drink. In the article written by Misch, they explain how in order for there to be a change in alcohol consumption within universities we must change the actual culture of alcohol abuse first. If campuses changed the culture of alcohol there may be less alcohol consumption within universities. There is underage drinking that occurs within Laurier University at the school restaurant Wilfs. Students are aware that 90 percent of the time, they will not get asked to show identification of they purchase an alcoholic beverage. This has personally happened to myself when I went to purchase a drink on the day of my 19th birthday and was not asked to show identification. If universities regulated their employees and made them as for identification like they are supposed to, underage drinking on campus would not occur as often. One point Misch spoke about in his text was raising awareness to students and advocating against what society expects one to do can help change the culture of alcohol drinking. If students are told that it is okay to be different and one does not have to engage into what society expects them to do they can still have a fun university experience as well as a safe one.

In conclusion, I do believe that there is a pressure to consume alcohol on campus. Students feel as if they must drink alcohol to fit into societal expectations of the university student. If one does not consume alcohol or go out they are considered to be a no one and not fun. There are plenty of negative associations that come along with pressured drinking that can affect the students’ present and future life as well as the universities.