If you venture just 10 feet off the University of Oregon campus on any given day, you will probably find students drinking at Taylor’s, the nearby bar. Even as early as 11:30 a.m., students stop by after class to enjoy drinks and conversation. For a dry campus, this seems a bit out of place. Being a “dry” campus means the possession and sale of alcohol is banned regardless of age.
In 2002, former University president Dave Frohnmayer decided Greek life partying was getting out-of-hand and banned the sale and possession of alcohol on school property. In theory, being a dry campus is a good idea — less underage drinking, less alcohol-related crime and fewer police calls.
In practice, though, it does not yield the expected results. Today, being a dry campus has little impact on student drinking habits.
Not only does UO sell alcohol at football games, but every day on campus at Falling Sky Pizza. With the abundance of alcohol sold legally on campus, it may seem as if we have overturned the dry campus ruling. This confusion can be explained by section 3.i.C of the student conduct code which states, “Consumption of an alcoholic beverage by a person at least the legal drinking age – where the incident occurred – or furnishing of an alcoholic beverage by or to a person at least the legal drinking age – where the incident occurred, except in such areas and at such times as the University authorizes.”
Alcohol is banned except for where the University can stand to benefit in some way.
The dry campus ruling has affected Greek life heavily, as fraternities and sororities are banned from serving alcohol at their houses because they are part of the University. This forces parties to be hosted at off-campus houses and apartments owned by Greek life members. Not being able to serve alcohol handicapped the Greek system’s ability to recruit new people and pushed the parties into less controllable environments. These less-governable events are the main issue because it can be hard for students to tell the difference between a Greek life party and a random house party. Greek life provides a somewhat safe space for students to experiment with partying, but becoming a dry campus has eliminated that safe space.
Fraternities also have a tendency to break the rules, so the ban on drinking only means more opportunities for the University to punish those in Greek life.
Greek life aside, many college students will drink at some point during college, and many will do it frequently. In 2018, more than 50% of college students aged 18-22 said they drank alcohol at some point during their college experience. Banning alcohol on campus only makes students more secretive about their alcohol use, and though wet campuses might experience more reports of student alcohol consumption, they overall result in fewer arrests.
In the Big 10 conference, there are a number of wet campuses like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Minnesota. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is held in high esteem for their education, yet the students reportedly party much harder than they do at UO. There is an argument on wet campuses like Wisconsin that students get bored of drinking when it is allowed and that drinking on the weekends and a stigma around getting bad grades motivates students to work hard during the week.
Making UO a dry campus does nothing more than keep underclassmen from calling an ambulance or the police when they need it. Becoming a wet campus again would reduce the number of alcohol-related hospital visits, improve the relationship between students and the University and reinvigorate Greek life. The only thing UO stands to lose by becoming a wet campus is its reputation, but reputation is not worth the health of its students.
