Hi! I’m a current student at Ithaca College, so I can give a little bit of insight into this. I’m sorry if this isn’t formatted perfectly; I’m typing this from my cellphone.
TL;DR: Alcohol use and drug use, to a lesser extent, is a thing that happens on campus, but I think the role of drugs and alcohol is pretty over-hyped. I don’t use either and I’ve never been pressured to, been in a situation where it’s happening, or felt the need to use anything.
Alcohol use and abuse is definitely something that is a concern here at Ithaca, which is probably true of most colleges and universities. Ithaca College does have a lot of initiatives in place to educate students before they get here and protect them after they’re here if they have made the decision to drink. Before coming to campus, all incoming freshmen are required to complete two online educational modules: AlcoholEdu, and Think About It. AlcoholEdu focuses solely on alcohol and the decision-making process surrounding it. The content you see depends on information you input about your experience with alcohol. Since I had never drank/been to a party, I took a slightly different course than my friends who had. It was pretty helpful. Think About It dead with a myriad of issues you might see in college life, particularly if you partake in the party scene. I think it’s suppossed to primarily cover sexual assault, but it goes very in-depth on drug and alcohol use and abuse too.
Once students are on campus, if they make the decision to drink, they’ll be covered by something called the Medical Amnesty Policy. Pretty much, if a student is at an on campus party and there is a drug or alcohol related overdose, they can call our Office of Public Safety for help and they won’t have to worry about being judicially referred. The person that overdosed will have to take an educational class called BASICS, but that’s better than a judicial referral. I’ll link the policy at the bottom of this in case you’re interested.
There are parties that happen, and I do have friends that go to these parties and drink. Not everything student at Ithaca College does this though. I personally am very against drinking and drug use, as are many of my friends. I’ve had a great time regardless. There’s so much going on/around the campus that doesn’t involve drinking (shopping/eating on the Commons, going to performances and other activities the college puts on, etc) that I’ve never really felt like I’ve been missing anything.
I know I haven’t really said much about drug use or abuse, but many of the same policies apply. Marijuana is the drug I most frequently hear about, but not everyone on campus uses it. I haven’t, and if any of my friends have or do use it, they aren’t exactly open about it.
ALSO, I should have said this earlier but wasn’t really sure where it would fit, we do have a Substance Free learning community in one of the residence halls if that’s something your son would be interested in.
Let me know if you have any more questions! Good luck to your son with his decision!
Medical Amnesty Policy: https://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/healthpromotion/icmap/
Info about substance free housing: https://www.ithaca.edu/reslife/specialty/substance_free/