It's tipsy at the top.
If some people say drinking alcoholic beverages is unhealthy, anti-intellectual or just plain stupid, Ivy League students do not seem to be listening. From the club scene at Columbia to the frat scene at Brown, America's best and brightest are raising their beers and ordering another round.
Alcoholic beverages are easily obtained on any Ivy campus, and being underage is hardly an obstacle to being drunk. In cities and in towns, in bars and in dorms, in bottles and in kegs, alcohol use goes far beyond the Hanover Plain.
No Kegs at Brown
There's no telling who you will bump into at a fraternity party at Brown University. If you were at Brown's Sigma Chi fraternity for "Disco Inferno" on Feb. 8, you could have bumped into 700 people -- campus police shut down the party due to overcrowding.
Ten percent of Brown students join one of the university's Greek organizations, which are housed in sections of residence halls. Most fraternity party-goers are freshmen, according to junior Chris Busselle, a member of Sigma Chi.
Brown students never have to wait for fraternity members to tap a keg, since kegs and "other large containers of alcohol" have been banned on campus since 1991. Instead, fraternities serve cans of beer, cocktails, punch and jello shots.
But Greeks hardly monopolize parties in Brown's residence halls. Students sometimes host dorm parties, and "program houses," which are similar to Dartmouth's affinity houses, host parties with alcohol in their dormitory sections, according to Celeste Tarricone, a Brown junior and executive editor of The Brown Daily Herald.
Campus police is "pretty lenient" in enforcing alcohol policy, but will confiscate alcohol in possession of a minor or any kegs or large containers of alcohol in the residence halls, Busselle said.
Students who do not drink have little trouble fitting in.
Alcohol "is there for those who want it," but there is not tremendous pressure to drink, Tarricone said. Parties have "good dancing and good conversation," so it is easy to have sober fun.
Like Dartmouth, Brown is not free of controversy over alcohol.
Following the stabbing of a student at a campus party on Sept. 21 and a rape at Phi Kappa Psi fraternity on Oct. 6, Dean of Student Life Robin Rose passed a "social function moratorium," banning all campus-wide social functions, The Brown Daily Herald reported. The incidents were allegedly committed by non-students.
The social events moratorium lasted only two weeks.
Bars and pubs at Columbia
In a place without houses, it is hardly surprising there is no "Animal House" mentality. Beneath the skyscrapers of Manhattan, student rarely face the question: "Which fraternity should I go to tonight?"
In addition to the cultural offerings of the Museum Mile of Fifth Avenue, free concerts in the parks and Broadway musicals, Columbia students face a thriving pub culture. Although many students drink, Columbia is no "party school by any stretch of the imagination," according to Columbia Junior Class President Jeff Cohen.
Students who drink will hit five or six bars near campus on a Thursday night, according to Columbia Spectator Editor-in-Chief Kim Van Duzer. She said students are more adventurous on Friday and Saturday nights, when they often make their way downtown.
Bars in New York City, "don't really check for identification," Cohen said. "If they do, it's an anomaly." On some nights, students return to their rooms "sloshed on free, unlimited, cheap wine," from a local Chinese restaurant, called, "The Columbia Cottage."
Columbia sophomore David Karp said students feel comfortable in bars even if they do not drink.
With a Greek population of 10 to 13 percent, fraternities and sororities play a role on the Columbia campus. Fraternities sometimes charge admission to their parties, which are often held in Earl Hall, a multi-purpose social space.
"When first I came here, the Greek system seemed to be dying a bit," Karp said. But now more students are interested in joining Greek organizations, he said.
Karp said the Columbia administration is aware that underage drinking occurs, but "it hasn't resulted in anything noticeable on campus, and they don't see it as a problem."
At registered dorm parties, graduate students are present as proctors to check identification, and they tend to be strict. But Columbia students face little worry about being caught by campus police -- who have "more important things to worry about" than underage drinking in a large city, Karp said.
Hanover, New York?
Can you name an Ivy League school in a semi-rural environment where the dominant social scene involves getting drunk in fraternities?
At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., the drinking scene resembles Dartmouth's Greek system, except it is costlier and there are more barriers to underage drinking.
"Ithaca's a very small place, and there's nothing else to do here but drink," Cornell sophomore Pamela Wong said. "There's no way that people are not pressured into drinking."
Wong is the co-president of Students Making Alcohol Substitutes Happen.
People who want to hit the fraternity scene have to pay $3 to $5 at the door of each house, Cornell freshman Brian Morgan said. Under New York State law, all alcoholic beverages, from beer to hard liquor, must be served by a hired caterer, who checks identification.
There is music, dancing, drinking and crowds in Cornell's fraternities, but the Greek system is not the only game in town.
Drinkers and non-drinkers can find entertainment in Collegetown, where there are movie theaters and cafes. There are also dance clubs in downtown Ithaca, a short drive away.
The last day of every Spring semester, Cornell students gather on a steep hill called "the slope" for "Slope Day," a public outdoor party on campus were people drink and "get trashed," Wong said. She said the party has been a tradition for about 10 years.
Harvard: 'more intelligent?'
Harvard freshman Greg Orykuss said few Harvard students drink regularly because, "We are a little more intelligent in how we spend our time."
Harvard junior Andrew Green, the co-managing editor of The Harvard Crimson, said the percentage of drinkers is significantly lower than that of a "real" school.
Whether you think the students are intelligent or believe the impulse to abstain is unnatural, one conclusion is obvious: alcohol is not very popular at Harvard.
In 1994, Harvard's Dean of the College Harry Luis replaced a dean who thought the underage drinking law was absurd. Luis is "very, very against drinking" and has taken measures to "crack down," Green said.
Last year administrators mailed letters to leaders of student groups encouraging them to "downplay the importance of alcohol within their organizations," co-managing editor of the Harvard Crimson Valerie MacMillan said. In response, the graduate governing boards of the Final clubs -- all-male, off-campus social organizations -- banned kegs from their social events.
"Drinking is not the dominant discourse of social life as it is at a school with a bigger Greek scene," Green said.
Even obtaining alcohol can be tough. There are very few large-scale open social events with alcohol, so parties tend to be small and private, Green said. He said fake IDs are a necessity for getting into bars.
Students who abstain find numerous other diversions, like going to a capella "jams," sports events, participating in club events or venturing into Boston.
Princeton's Drinking Clubs
At Princeton University, everyone knows "The Street" is where the action is.
Prospect Avenue is lined with 12 old mansions, home to the "eating clubs," the coed social organizations that give Princeton students their alcohol fix. Seventy-five percent of juniors and seniors belong to an eating club, according to Princeton junior Marshall Burkes, the projects editor of The Daily Princetonian.
Unaffiliated with the university and situated on private property between academic buildings, the clubs are a long-standing Princeton tradition.
Princeton junior Albert Park said The Street draws between 40 and 50 percent of students to its open social events, where alcohol is served in the basement.
"Anyone who wants to be served [alcohol], is served. Eating clubs don't run out of beer," Princeton junior Taleeb Noormohamed said. If one club ran out of beer, "everyone would just go to another one anyway."
University proctors do not monitor parties on The Street and are not allowed in the eating clubs.
"Most [students] are going to be underage and drinking anyway," Noormohamed said. Underage drinking is something the administration "really can't control."
Noormohamed said many of his friends who do not drink attend eating club parties to dance and listen to bands and disc jockeys. But there are also alternatives to drinking away from The Street.
"Students who don't go out to The Street, hang out, go to dorm parties, watch movies or study -- there are lots of nerds here," Park said.
In town, "there's a one-screen movie theater that's three months behind, and a microbrewery in town that serves soup, sandwiches and makes their own beer," Noormohamed said.
At Penn, a war of the worlds
Members of Greek houses make up 30 percent of the student body at the University of Pennsylvania, but support 80 percent of the social life, said Matt Veneri, a senior and the former treasurer of Penn's Interfraternity Council
Rather than risk an outing in dangerous West Philadelphia, where bars card scrupulously, students satiate their thirst at the three or four fraternity parties offered every Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. There are 32 fraternities at Penn.
Students are expected to bring their own beer, and fraternities are prohibited from supplying alcohol to their guests. But according to at least one student, BYOB "is not happening and never happened" and fraternities still provide alcohol.
The Penn Greek system is currently a hotbed of controversy. Administrators recently decided to enforce a Pennsylvania state law prohibiting fraternities from charging admission without liquor licenses. Fraternities have responded by asking the University to subsidize social events open to the entire campus.
"The fraternities feel that it is impossible for them to maintain financial livelihood without charging," Panhellenic Council President and Penn junior Jess Lennon said. Fraternities had previously asked for donations of about $5 at the door to offset expenses.
The Interfraternity Council told the Penn administration that it needs $75,000 from the university to keep parties open to non-Greeks, said Randi Rothberg, a freshman reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Yalie admin easy; cops tough
Laissez-faire is the unofficial alcohol policy at Yale University -- students drink and administrators don't seem to care. Yale's 12 residential "colleges" are monitored by administrators who are "notably lenient" about drinking.
"The general alcohol policy at Yale is incredibly lenient," said junior Jake Sullivan, the editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News. "The Deans' Office seldom takes any action against students. The administration feels that Yale students are responsible enough to know their limits."
Masters would sometimes even "literally buy alcohol" for campus events, Sullivan said.
Yale students prefer to avoid bars, choosing to drink at fraternities, in dorms, or in student apartments off campus, said Yale Student Government President Tyson Belanger. Kegs are allowed in residential college rooms, and fraternity parties provide alcohol to underage students.
"Party regulations are in effect and enforced by 'a community of mutual respect'" said Yale Office of Public Affairs Information Officer Gila Reinstein.
Every weekend, there are "plenty" of parties in the residential colleges and at the off-campus fraternities, Sullivan said. On campus, "there are a few rooms that are known for their crowded parties.".
The New Haven Police department, however, is not so lenient. Officers have been cracking down on business that serve alcohol to the underage.
Naples Pizzeria, which for years had served the beer needs for Yale students, "was busted by New Haven Police and liquor control agencies" for selling alcohol to minors, Sullivan said.
