Amherst, drinking, and sub-free dorms

ahobbitinside
Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:42:36 +0000

I live in North, the fully sub-free dorm this year, and I love it. There is a great variety of people here, and though there are one or two more antisocial types, overall I think you’d find we’re not that much different from people of other dorms.

North residents do get accused of being a little cliquey, which is somewhat true. We have a really nice dorm community (I almost want to say the closest out of all the freshmen dorms), and even our own “table” in Val. Some nights the common rooms are so filled with people socializing that it’s hard to study or do anything. However, I think almost everyone here has friends outside of the dorm as well, and we frequently have non-North visitors.

Don’t think just because it’s sub-free people won’t drink though. They’re just less likely to do it or do it in more moderation. However, I’d say a noticeable percentage of our residents do go out to drink from time to time, and we have had a couple of drunken cases. However, it’s definitely a lot rarer than it would be elsewhere. The RC’s tend to look the other way on stuff like this, but they are very serious about no substances in the dorm, which was my main reason for living here.

Are you visiting? If you are, I’d suggest just stopping by and seeing it for yourself. You should also check out the non-subfree dorms too or talk to people who live there to get their side of the story.