Yet, according to a group of experts, this seven-day traditional introduction into university life has been transformed from an opportunity for students to get to know each other, familiarise themselves with their surroundings and join societies, to an “alcoholic haze” in which memories are lost, ditches fallen into and drink-related accidents reign.
Professor Oliver James, a liver disease specialist and head of the medical faculty at Newcastle University, told the prime minister at a Downing Street seminar that he was “appalled” by the quantity of drinking that goes on during freshers’ week. For him, it is “a sort of excuse to get exceptionally and paralytically drunk”, and can lead to a harmful drinking career.
In fact, Gordon Brown was so impressed by this report that, reportedly, he was to investigate whether the Higher Education Funding Council, which distributes public money to universities and colleges for teaching and research, could use its powers to ban universities from encouraging “excessive” drinking on their campuses. If this came into effect, one could only imagine that student unions would face severe restrictions on what alcohol they could sell, at what price and in what time periods.
The seminar was held in February, and so far, no policies have been written.
But, while there is an alarming lack of statistics concerning alcohol consumption in freshers’ week or the number of alcohol related accidents that are caused, the message is clear: the days of hedonistic freshers’ play might very well be numbered.
Yet, do these images of beer-guzzling freshman endorsing in 2-for-1 discount deals at their local unions hold any truth in today’s society? I think not. It seems that student communities have never been more vigilant when alcohol consumption is concerned. Yes, 15% of a UK sample of 3,075 students drank at hazardous drinking levels of 51 or more units per week for men and 36 or more units for women, but research shows that most will not be doing so from their local university-run bars.
In reality, the income that student unions make from drink has declined so much that they are now changing bars into coffee and juice venues, with union bars actually being praised by alcohol support groups for their sensible and responsible policies. Gone are the days of free shots at the door, and in are the alcohol advice leaflets that scatter the bar tops and litter the floor.
What’s more, if students are going to drink “exceptional” amounts of alcohol, surely there is no safer place to do it than within one’s unions? After all, how many bars out there will stop serving drunken students when they have had one too many, offer them transport home and stay with them until such transport arrives? I, for one, don’t know any such premises in my local area, but these were the exact sorts of services that my union offered throughout not only my freshers’ week, but also my whole university career.
Yes, binge drinking is a problem that affects students, but it is also part of a much wider, national problem that does not originate in student communities.
If the government is going to impose regulations on drink, then it should start to monitor it from the very top. It is supermarkets and pubs that target students with their discount cards and deals, not the student unions that look out for the students’ social welfare, when no one else will.
After all, students are more known for their thrifty nature than their loyalty, and if the price of alcohol in their student bars increases, they will have no qualms about moving to a place where the price is more appealing. Yes, more drunk students on the streets and outside pubs – that is exactly what the government wants now, isn’t it? Perfect for the “youth culture” that it so publicly adores.
So, I say leave students and their unions alone. The government should be focusing on national education programmes that teach young people about the safe consumption of alcohol and stop picking on universities, which are already informed. It is not often that I agree with the Tories, but I think their universities spokesman David Willetts was spot on when he said: “If the government is going to pick a fight with students enjoying a few drinks, the government will lose.”
Sarah Morrison 