<p>Right, but that in itself is not enough proof. Maybe somebody spilled it on them while they were walking around, maybe one of another thousand things happened. I work in a bio lab with ethanol sometimes, one time I spilled it on my hand. Anybody near me could smell “alcohol”, but I certainly was not drinking.</p>
<p>Now obviously, anyone could figure out that “smell of alcohol” + “college student in room on weekend” = student was probably drinking. But probable cause is not enough (for an RA) to write someone up. If the RA saw cans or bottles in the room, that would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was drinking in that room and that the student had been drinking. Without this concrete sort of evidence, they don’t really have any foundation to write someone up.</p>