Some students would rather drop out than not be allowed drink in their own house, but in University College Cork, students living on-campus have been given the option of alcohol-free accommodation.
The initiative has been a success in UCC with twenty four students opting for this type of housing this year, leading to a major expansion of the college’s student wellbeing programme.
Just one third of students living in the alcohol-free apartments are Irish students, with the rest originate from France, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Australia, Austria and Canada.
Students in UCC provided different reasons for opting to live in an alcohol-free environment, including wanting to concentrate on study. Some didn’t want to live within an environment where alcohol would be present, and some just don’t drink alcohol themselves.
When asked, a substantial amount of DCU students said that they would not choose to live in alcohol-free accommodation. Journalism student, Conor Hawkins, said “I would consider living in alcohol-free accommodation if I was doing a masters but at the moment I wouldn’t opt for it”.
Towards the end of last year, a Sober Society was introduced in DCU which proved to be a big hit with students. With such a welcome response to a society which promotes “Events you can remember” it’s a good indicator that alcohol-free accommodation could be welcomed by DCU students in the future.
Mark Kelly, a second year Communications student, is one of the people who agree that alcohol-free housing would be a huge benefit to DCU Campus. “Just because some people’s lifestyle choices differ from what may be the norm in society, they shouldn’t feel uncomfortable in their own homes”.
Roisin Nestor
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