One year ago this month, I got wasted for the very first time. It involved margaritas. It was great. Though I spent my underclass years staunchly substance-free, I, like many Grinnellians, have became more comfortable with the idea of inebriation since coming here, with not having to be the class role model anymore, growing up, meeting people and meeting the aforementioned margaritas, etc. etc. A hefty portion of Grinnellians—if the demand for sub-free housing is an indicator—live relatively substance free.
The school balances its admirably lax alcohol policy with a slew of substance-free events. RLC Jennifer Bieniek heads the student Weekend Wellness Committee which coordinates alcohol-free events every Friday night attended by a varying number of students: 200 turned out for the Weekend Wellness bonfire hosted by I.S.O., but between 15 and 60 show up for the more typical Bingo or Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) affairs. “We want to provide options on campus,” explains Bieniek. “You can have fun without alcohol. The keyword of these events is fun!” SGA films and concerts are also highly attended, technically sub-free events.
Kyle Blair ’10, who lives in substance-free Kershaw, thinks the school does a “really good job” offering inclusive events where he and his friends feel comfortable whether they’re drinking or, as is usually the case, are staying sober. “I go to the big Harris parties, concerts, movies,” Blair explains. He and his friends will also just hang out on weekend nights, looking at the stars or playing charades or watching a movie in the lounge, like they did on 10/10.
Sarah Evans ’10, who lives down the hall from Blair, agrees that there’s plenty to do for sub-free kids. Though she doesn’t go to many parties, Evans says she feels “really comfortable” at Grinnell, especially with a strong community of like-minded, beer-scorning friends who are up for spending Friday night just talking or watching a movie.
On Blair and Evans’ hall hangs a colorful board of index cards written during a “Post Secret” Weekend Wellness event thrown by Kershaw students with the encouragement of their RLC, Bieniek.
Kai Hill ’09, who drinks only wine (and only rarely), agrees that she feels comfortable and included on campus, but has never lived in a sub-free dorm and doesn’t attend Weekend Wellness events. “I think they’re kind of lame,” she says. “They think sub-free means you like to play DDR.”
Although Clara Thelen ’08 says she’s “definitely not comfortable with hard drinking culture”, she, too, has never felt the need to attend the specifically sub-free Weekend Wellness events. “It seems like having something to do for the people who aren’t cool enough to drink,” she laughs.
But Thelen believes that building a group of non-drinking friends is key to being happy at Grinnell. “You need to find the right people—non-partiers—if you don’t, it can be tough,” she says, admitting that it took her a while to find a group with whom she connected after she transferred from St. John’s College. “You know where the parties are,” she explains, “but you don’t know where the parties aren’t.”
The black and white categories of substance-free versus substance indulgence are somewhat misleading and unhelpful, since many students consume selectively—drinks every once in a while or yes, alcohol, no, drugs. People like me who were crazy in high school and swore off pain killers and coffee as well as cigarettes, drugs and alcohol make up at one end of the substance-use spectrum while serious alcoholics lie at the other, but most Grinnellians fall somewhere in the middle, drinking occasionally and sometimes, memorably, to excess. Blair, for example, identifies as “substance-free” although he’s had a few beers this year.
Christine Bruckner ’08, who drinks occasionally now but says the drinks she had freshman year could be counted on one hand, feels that when someone says they’re substance-free, many people assume they disapprove of alcohol and might not be comfortable around it. “I don’t like to put people into categories of substance-free or substance-full,” Bruckner notes. “I think drinking is a good thing in moderation, it’s a choice I make but not a crutch.”
Related: A weekend in the life
