The Martlet

So, you’re underage. If you’re on campus, this leaves you with few options for weekend entertainment, since you’re prohibited from attending legal-age campus events.

Although the countless Student Union Building (SUB) themed parties, live DJs and music shows appeal to students living on campus, most first years are not yet 19-years-old, and are left with the alternative — residence parties.

“There’s a lot of staying in rooms and getting drunk and wandering,” said Alexa Villalpondo, a first-year UVic student who has experienced the drought of underage activities on campus.

Living in residence, students often start off in a friend’s room, eventually opting to leave the quiet hang out for the company of more people.

Following the rumours of a small gathering, students move from building to building only to find out that plans have changed and the party has been shut down.

By midnight, most of the UVic on-campus residents pool outside cluster housing or near the cafeteria, waiting for something to happen — anything.

The SUB calendar lists interesting activities such as UVic Idol, karaoke, or dancing to a live DJ, all of which are off-limits for UVic’s minors.

The consistent exclusion from events due to the presence of alcohol has many minors thinking that if these kinds of events were accessible to all students, it would also benefit everyone on campus.

Partying in residence buildings causes expensive visits from the fire department, broken light fixtures, holes through walls, messes in the bathrooms and noise complaints from students who need to study on a Saturday night.

ResLife has planned frequent events since the first week of school exactly for this reason. From dances to casino nights, ResLife staff have given students another option.

But while some see this as an attempt from the university to keep minors from getting drunk, many students attend these events and then hit afterparties, or go drink.

“We try to plan events that students will enjoy which also promote healthy community living,” said Lisa Robinson, manager of Residence Student Affrairs.

Attendance to these events fluctuates.

“It varies from event to event,” said Robinson. “The spirit dance and pirate dances were well attended and coffee houses are often quite popular.

“Students are diverse and choose to spend their time in different ways, but there are a number of students who clearly enjoy getting together to dance, share music and socialize with each other.”

As long as the divide exists between minors and students of age, Robinson said the unstructured dorm parties are inevitable but added that students should strive to have fun in a respectful way.

“Part of living in community means [gathering in dorms] in a way which doesn’t have a negative impact on one’s neighbours or the greater community,” she said.