To freshmen: Yes, there are undergraduates on this campus who, for various reasons, do not consume alcohol. Some of us are Muslim, some of us are Platonists, some of us are Thomists, and some of us just think it tastes nasty. A few even find it easier to enjoy the antics of the inebriate when sober. And some of us just don't get out much.
As a person who does not drink alcohol for about half the reasons mentioned above (I'll let you guess which), I can happily report that there is very little in the way of pressure to drink on Princeton's campus - at least, I haven't experienced any. The first time I was offered champagne at a room party last year, I quietly explained that I don't drink and was immediately offered a range of sodas, teas and iced water. No one looked at me like I had tentacles growing out of the back of my head. At all the wet parties I've been to since then I have never once had an unpleasant experience with any host or guest and a polite attention to my "dietary needs" has been the general note.
True, most people on the Street on a given evening are usually drunk or heading in that direction. But if your idea of comedy is slurred speech and bad breath, then it's not awkward to visit the eating clubs, stay sober and have a good laugh. Whether the clubs are especially interesting without the Rose-red glasses of a decent fix is another matter entirely: But that's up to individual taste. For an Apatow or a Waugh I'm sure they'd be a ripe field of material for observation.
I am well aware that this column does not represent a majority of my fellow Princetonians, but while the administration goes about its War on Drinking with its favorite solution for everything - another set of formalized chats - I do want to assure the incoming "sub-free" types that we're not persecuted, we're not ostracized, and there are more of us than you might think. To begin with, we don't all live in sub-free. I don't.
In my experience, a significant minority of students don't drink. And the ones who do are typically quite accommodating of those who don't. If you're offered a glass of scotch and you'd rather have a Sprite (for whatever reason), I doubt your host will be offended if you go with your gut - especially as it leaves more liquor for everyone else. Win-win.
Now, I've avoided the T-word so far, because to call me a teetotaler might be a bit strong. I am not arguing that other students should not drink alcohol. And I don't particularly care if any other undergraduate does get drunk, provided he or she does not vomit through my window. (My friends know I love "Brideshead Revisited" but, would-be Sebastians: Please, send an e-mail.) I hope no one will try to paint us as elitist, judgmental types. I can't speak for all the other Dry Ones on campus, but I don't regard drinking itself as per se an immoral activity. (Philosophy majors: you can begin to guess in which of the above schools I fall.) Very, very few of my dry friends - and there are a lot of them - would look down on someone simply for drinking. If you wind up asleep and half-naked next to the Art Museum, we may literally look down on you as we walk to class, but I promise it's not condescending.
This is not a call to dialogue, and I'm not asking for a new extracurricular. This is just my way of welcoming to Princeton a small crowd of students who are disorganized, unrecognized and possibly hesitant about showing up to - or throwing - their first parties, and venturing out to the clubs. Welcome to the pool: The water's fine. Come on in and get wet.
Brendan Carroll is a sophomore from New York, N.Y. He can be reached at btcarrol@princeton.edu.
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