Party School: Crime, Campus, and Community

4 | Playing Hard: Students' Drinking and Drug Routines

Playing Hard Stu d e nt s ’ D r i n k i ng a n d D r ug R o ut i n e s Although students party (i.e., drink and use drugs) to some degree at almost all residential universities and colleges, nowhere do as many students party, and to such extremes, as at so-­ called party schools. Students party more at these schools due, in part, to their location in an isolated college town with easy access to alcohol and little else to do. Students also party more at these schools because a much larger proportion of them are “traditional” students who have fewer financial obligations and more time on their hands for such leisure activities. But students also party more at these schools due to a prominent party subculture that encourages playing hard, often to the detriment of studying. Recall from the introduction that subcultures consist of identifiable norms and rituals that bond members together and provide them with a sense of identity. Students who participate in a party subculture engage in unique drinking and drug routines that become an integral part of their shared experiences at college and often a large part of their identities as students at a party school. Using sample data from the Campus Crime Victimization Survey (CCVS), a self-­ report survey distributed to undergraduate students ages eighteen to twenty-­ four, this chapter examines students’ party routines at PU. More specifically, the chapter provides a descriptive account of students who party at the party school and how they party. It does so by delineating four distinct types of partiers at PU ranging from non-­ partiers to students who participate most extensively in the party subculture. The chapter concludes with a look at how students conceptualize a “partier” identity and party school label. Playing Hard 39 De s c r i b i ng P U Stu de nt s a n d T h e i r Pa rt y Rout i n e s Based on data from the Campus Crime Victimization Survey (CCVS), the clear majority of traditional PU students are full-­time (97 percent), single (98 percent), and have no children (99 percent) (See appendix B, table 1). One-­ fifth of PU students live on campus in residence halls or fraternity/sorority housing, with most students (80 percent) living off campus. A third of PU students participate in some type of campus organization, including varsity sports (4 percent), marching band (4 percent), and club or intramural sports (26 percent). Fifteen percent of PU students belong to either a fraternity (6 percent) or Sorority (9 percent). Students in the sample represent a broad range of majors, with 32 percent of the students majoring in a discipline within the social sciences, 9 percent in health sciences, 16 percent in engineering and physical sciences and the remainder (42 percent) in assorted majors (e.g., journalism, creative arts, business).PU students self-­report a relatively high grade point average (GPA). For instance, 39 percent of students surveyed claim to have a GPA above 3.5, and just 1 percent claim a GPA under 2.0.1 Approximately 18 percent of traditional PU students work at jobs for more than twenty hours per week, and 51 percent do not work at all. Only 20 percent of students are financially responsible for their own tuition, and 46 percent pay their own rents. One in seven students claim no personal obligation to pay any expenses while at college (including tuition, rent, gas, and utilities). Based on these numbers, there are clearly many students at PU with enough time on their hands and a lack of financial responsibility to indulge in lots of beer, hard liquor, and drugs—the relevant criteria (along with popularity of Greek life) for scoring high on party school lists, at least according to Princeton Review’s methodology (see “Defining the Party School” in the introduction). Lots of Beer and Hard Liquor Like students at most residential universities and colleges, PU students consume large amounts of alcohol. CCVS data indicate that 79 percent of traditional students drink alcohol while at PU and 60 percent of students who drink alcohol typically consume five or more drinks on the occasions when they drink, the most common measure of “binge” drinking.2 (See appendix B, 40 Party University table 2.) More specifically, 28 percent of PU students drink five to six drinks...