<p>How prevalent is alcohol/alcohol-type-partying at Carleton?</p>
<p>There are parties with alcohol on campus. Its sort of an unwritten rule on campus that you can have a party as long as it stays in your room, is not excessively loud and is over at a reasonable hour. When any of these rules get broken security will shut it down. </p>
<p>There are also a number of options for you if you do not want to have to deal with parties on your floor such as substance free housing and 24 hour quiet hour housing. Although I have lived on regular floors for a couple of years and only had a real problem with it once.</p>
<p>if the party stays in your room, then it is acceptable. What if the room mate does not want to party (with alcohol)? Does the roommate have to be the ‘bad guy’ and tell them to not party, or do they have to ‘tell security’?</p>
<p>What dorm(s) are ‘substance free’? Do such dorms have all years in them, or only a certain year (under classmen, for example)?</p>
<p>Sub free floors vary by year, depending on how many sign up for them. All dorms/floors have mixed years. There are rooms for freshmen in all dorms. Also, Carleton will be building a new dorm in 2008.</p>
<p>Roommates should lay down ground rules, which should include party/no party. If one roommate feels uncomfortable being the bad guy, then they can always get the RA involved. From what I have seen, most Carleton students are pretty respectful of their roommates.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply, fireflyscout. some related questions: </p>
<p>1) what is the legal drinking age in MN?</p>
<p>2) Isn’t there a little strip of a street just outside of campus where alcohol is served? Why wouldnt the students choose to drink in those places? Or is question #1 affect this answer?</p>
<p>3) how prevalent is drinking at Carleton? I believe I read in Princeton Review that on any weekend about 33 pct of the carleton campus is drinking alcohol. </p>
<p>It sounds like, then, that this segment of the student population would be drinking in their rooms, assuming the rooms are on a ‘dry floor’ - and their roommates approved of the alcohol consumption.</p>
<p>Good to hear that ‘most carleton students are pretty respectful of their roommates’. But I am naively thinking that if I want to have a drink, and have a party, and my roommate says no, I am going to not like it and I can imagine ‘bad blood’.</p>
<p>I assume that a student who was against drinking would always opt for the dry floor. That would head such ‘bad blood’ incidents off at the pass. Since it sounds like the admin separates wet and dry by floor, I am curious what would occur when the requestors for dry only take up a fraction of the floor. What would the Carl admin do in this case?</p>
<p>And, Since I am on the subject, I guess I will sift this question into the post…</p>
<p>what is the prevalence and the use of non prescription recreational drugs at Carleton? I guess one would not go down the street to consume these drugs, so I assume it would be in the dorm rooms. I further assume it would be the same dynamic as with alcohol.</p>
<p>Finally, now that I have asked about booze and drugs, I will go for the trifecta and ask about the prevalence of sex in dorm rooms. Please excuse the naivete. I never went to college, and only can guess about things like this.</p>
<p>Since I assume there are no ‘monastic floors’ or abstinence floors’, I assume the common sense ‘respect your roommate’ rule would prevail in this case - true? Does this kind of think happen a lot?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s 21, just like every other state in the country. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are several bars on Division Street, which is the main street through downtown Northfield. Some people do drink there. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There is a below-average amount of drinking at Carleton compared to similar schools, and certainly compared to any school with a frat scene. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If your room is on a dry floor, you can’t drink or even have alcohol in it. That’s the entire point of designating it sub-free.</p>
<p>The question swirling around the above questions is:</p>
<p>How are students who do not like to do sex, booze and / or drugs treated at Carleton? Marginalized? Made fun of ?</p>
<p>there are plenty of those kids; and different people will understand each other.</p>
<p>I’ve asked my daughter your question in post #7 - she said that student’s decisions to abstain are respected. Carleton students value the uniqueness of the individual.</p>
<p>great. thanks.</p>
<p>As the mother of a Carleton senior, I can second what Firefly writes. Yes, there is drinking but I think much less binge drinking than on many campuses and it is my understanding that it is almost exclusively limited to the weekend. And those who choose not to are respected.</p>
<p>Current carl here. Drinking is pretty prevalent on campus, especially at the beginning of the term before classes really heat up. There are a lot of parties, and underage students, like myself, have no issues getting alcohol. One of the previous posters mentioned that drinking is limited to the weekends, and from my limited experience (freshman) and what I hear that is completely true. People work during the week, and have fun on weekends. Also, the decision not to drink is respected, as long as you respect the choice of others to drink. I live on a sub-free floor, and at the parties I’ve been to people have been mostly cool with me not drinking. However if you try to preach to people about the evils of alcohol people will obviously be annoyed. It’s all about respecting other people’s decisions.</p>
<p>I’m the parent of a freshman, and my impression is that the administration wants Carls–with some guidance–to figure out the alcohol issue for themselves, which, IMHO, is not a bad idea. Alcohol is a part of our society, and these students will, at some point, run into it. Carleton is probably as good an environment as any to figure out whether or not you want to drink, how much, and the ramifications of those choices.</p>
<p>Current freshman here:</p>
<p>People definitely party here-- they drink, they hook up, and they occasionally do both to excess. Weed is also fairly prominent on campus, though I haven’t noticed evidence of any other drugs. If you’re looking for a party on the weekend, no matter your age, you’ll probably find it. </p>
<p>Parties can and do get out of hand, just like at any college. There are some infamous dorms and houses that can create unsavory situations. One kid this school year had to be taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning and it’s only third week. Carleton is definitely tamer than many schools, but it is not immune to dangerous overindulgence.</p>
<p>That said, there are definitely things to do other than drink and, for the most part, people are pretty respectful of their classmates who choose not to partake in the substances. There are clubs that meet on Friday and Saturday nights. There are sub-free floors with lots of non-drinkers who generally have events on the weekends. There are plenty of people who don’t drink every weekend and still have tons of fun. I live on what could be termed a party floor, yet we have some people who are non-drinkers and they are full, beloved members of floor social life. It’s really no big deal, unless one starts pontificating about how destructive alcohol is. </p>
<p>You honestly can mold your own social life here and the campus isn’t harshly divided across drinking and no-drinking lines. Carls are, from my impression during these past three weeks, friendly sorts and don’t care if you choose not to party wildly. But you can also find yourself in trouble with substances, drinking yourself silly every weekend. </p>
<p>The de facto alcohol policy:
Though the parties can spill into the hallways and between rooms, the cans/bottles/cups need to be kept in a room. Don’t go wandering campus beer can in hand. No one cares how old you are in terms of procuring alcohol. RAs do not generally intervene until things start to look dangerous. NO alcohol or drunkeness on sub-free floors. Parties do get broken up at 1am, but generally that involves splitting into smaller groups and shutting the door to a room. </p>
<p>My 2 cents.</p>
<p>are the sub free floors limited to one dorm building? </p>
<p>Another question: how are dorms at carleton divided? by gender, by college yr (fr, so, jr, sr)?</p>
<p>The dorms are mixed years, mixed genders. Rooms are reserved for freshmen in all dorms. Some dorms are more popular with seniors and juniors, sophomores get what’s left (room draw is done by lottery by class).</p>
<p>In addition to the sub-free floor (floors? can’t remember how many), there is also a female-only floor.</p>
<p>Sub-free floors are actually available at most campus dorms - about 7 by my count. There are also a few so-called quiet areas designated. Although not sub-free, they tend to be, well, quieter. Lots of options, lots of acceptance.</p>
<p>Rooms are reserved on each floor of each dorm for incoming freshmen, except for Sevy (Serverance) which is available only during room draw. Upperclassmen grab these first along with the townhouses. To my knowledge, there are no freshmen assigned to interest houses or townhouses. There are sub-free floors in several halls.<br>
<a href=“http://www.carleton.edu/student/housing/roomdraw/rooms.html[/url]”>http://www.carleton.edu/student/housing/roomdraw/rooms.html</a>
You can choose a hall and floor to see the plans, including how many students are allocated to each room and whether or not the floor is sub-free.</p>
<p>So it seems that a student might be able to choose a sub free floor thoughout his or her years at Carleton, even after going to different dorms.</p>
<p>thanks for the info.</p>
<p>
I’m not familiar with Carleton specifically, but I can tell you with confidence that sex is prevalent.</p>