By Elea Jürß
Correction 31.01: Previously, the article stated that the events run by RAVECAVE were run by a different AUC committee, which was incorrect. This has been corrected and replaced.
Winter break is over. Students are back at AUC, and so are the parties: AUCafe Borrels, Solace events, Dormsessions concerts, AUC Pub Quizzes, RAVECAVE and dorm parties – students get to take their pick. Social life at AUC revolves around parties. “You could be perceived as boring or lame if you refuse to participate. Parties are seen as very social, so not going is like refusing to socialise,” says Joseph Masson, first-year Humanities major. Other students agree. “Sometimes it feels a little bit isolating if you don’t go“, explains Nicole Delcheva, third-year Science major.
Attending parties often means drinking, smoking or taking drugs. “Alcohol and tobacco are a unifying thing, because you can kind of do that anywhere. It’s similar to a social ritual,“ says Rhea van den Bosh, first-year Humanities major. A Herring survey from October revealed that since arriving at AUC, 44% of students consume more substances, and 29% have reduced their negative attitudes towards them. 74% reported drinking occasionally, with 14% regularly consuming weed, and 12% regularly using tobacco.
“In my first year, and this was my first experience with hard drugs, I went to a four-person party. It was a pregame for the club. I’m sitting there drinking my beer, I look in front of me, and there’s a bunch of men doing cocaine,” says Catherine Lebiedzińska, third-year Social Science major, remembering one of her first dorm parties. Many students notice the presence of substances around AUC. “Yeah, it’s a lot, coming into this environment where it’s just everywhere”, says Rhea van den Bosh, a first-year Humanities major.
Masson recalls a RAVECAVE event from October: “There definitely were people on all sorts of drugs.” The party was interrupted by a student getting picked up by an ambulance. “It’s your first rave in college, you don’t know how much you can handle”.
At AUC parties, substances cannot be avoided, even for underage students. “There are still underage people. And I think it’s really interesting that being a university student is enough to jump up in that age bracket,“ says van den Bosh. Other students also raise their concerns. “I kind of feel pressured to drink sometimes because of everyone drinking”, says Lebiedzińska.
Committees, such as AUCafe (Borrel Committee) and Dormsessions, are funded by AUCSA and can earn academic credits through Community Projects, which are mandatory for every student. Some feel that supervised events create a safe environment for students to experiment and recognise their own limits. “Having a space for it and having some people responsible is not a bad idea overall,” said Delcheva.
The Herring 