Student associations are taking more action against alcohol abuse. Is it helping?

Alcohol and student culture are often one and the same. The Expertise Centre for Alcohol, that investigates alcohol consumption among students, recently published figures (in Dutch) showing that about 39% of students drink to the point of ‘risk’, 16% ‘heavily’, and 10% ‘excessively’.

TU Delft’s sports and social student associations are trying to gradually break away from the drinking culture. To this end, the OWee Board and 13 student associations signed a new covenant in 2023 against alcohol abuse and every year take extra measures during the OWee to reduce excessive alcohol consumption.

New this year are the breath tests run by all student associations that have their own premises. Every underaged person at the OWee has to do the test if they want to attend an OWee activity in a club building. Anyone caught drinking alcohol will lose their OWee wristband and will only get a new one after a meeting with the OWee Board.

From a random test to everyone

“Last year, a handful of student associations used breath tests and did so randomly. Unfortunately, in the case of student associations that did not do breath tests, we saw an increase in the number of underaged students that had drunk alcohol,” says Xavier Verwijmeren Kraan, Sint Jansbrug’s External Commissioner. “When I had bar duty at Sint Jansbrug, I saw how three wristbands were removed on just one evening. It was quite shocking.”

This must change, say the student associations. “By having all the first years do a breath test at the door, we hope to show that it is really not okay to drink,” says Tim de Vries, Secretary at the Delftsche Studenten Bond (DSB). Like Sint Jansbrug, his student association is using the breath tests for the first time this year.

Xavier, of Sint Jansbrug, is part of the Student Welfare Working Group of VeRa, the TU Delft Student Association Council. The Working Group wrote a breath test protocol that all the student associations are following. “It states for example, that: OWee attendees can choose between undergoing a breath test or leaving the queue; we take them aside for the breath test; and, there is always a mentor or fellow group member present so that they are not alone.”

‘Everyone makes mistakes. It is not nice if this happens exactly during your OWee’

To avoid first years getting hold of alcohol after admission, student associations are taking precautions. “We too have instructed the bar staff to pay extra attention to this,” says Vera van Spronsen, Virgiel’s Chair.

Cutting off the wristbands

At the 2023 OWee, the OWee Board advised student associations against granting membership to a particular first year student who went too far. This year, student associations have not made any agreements on this and each is making their own plan. OWee attendees who were caught can still become members of DSB and Virgiel. The board members say that first years should have the chance to learn from their mistakes. “Everyone makes mistakes. It is not nice if this happens exactly during your OWee and you have to bear the consequences for the rest of your student time.”

Xavier of Sint Jansbrug agrees. His student association will look at each case individually and assess if the person may apply for membership. “If drinking is accompanied by bad behaviour, the student will probably not be able to become a member.” The Delfts Studenten Corps (DSC) uses the place where the beer was drunk as a criterion. “If it turns out that they drank at our club building, they may not join the KMT (introduction period, Eds.).” In accordance with the Personal Data Act, attendees can only be excluded from the student association where they were caught with alcohol.

More 0.0

Most student associations have widened their range of non-alcoholic drinks during the OWee. Specially for the OWee: DSB has a cocktail bar in the garden where cheap mocktails are served; Virgiel has added 0.0 special beers and 0.0 Radler to the drinks menu; Sint Jansbrug is holding a mocktail course during the Ladies Intro; and, DSC is not serving strong drinks temporarily.

The student associations are also promoting less alcohol consumption during the year. Informative talks have already been a feature of the KMTs for a couple of years; one or more symposiums are held about alcohol and drugs every year; some student associations have expanded their range of 0.0 and soft drinks; and, student associations have adjusted their pricing policy. Apart from these steps, the boards are working on a culture in which their members broach the subject of alcohol to each other at their student associations. Vera van Virgiel explains that “If we see that someone has drunk too much, not only do we address the person individually, but we also raise the issue with their fraternity or drinking mates. Our message to the latter group is that they were there too.”

A couple of years ago, DSC made spirits more expensive than other alcoholic drinks. “It’s working well,” says DSC Senate member Lennard Timp.

‘I see three peaks in alcohol consumption among TU Delft students every year: during the OWee, the KMT, and the introduction period of year clubs and fraternities’

Is it helping?

Are the above-mentioned measures helping or is it fighting a losing beer battle? There is no research comparing alcohol consumption among TU Delft students over the years. That said, Nico van der Lely, a paediatrician in Delft, started keeping a record for a post-doc in 2023 of the number of young people aged 17 to 25 who come to the emergency department during the OWee and how much alcohol they have in their blood. “Our goal is to improve the prevention policy as I see three peaks in alcohol consumption among TU Delft students every year: during the OWee, the KMT, and the introduction period of year clubs and fraternities.”

Van der Lely has been fighting to reduce alcohol consumption among young people for years. While he does not yet want to draw any conclusions from his records, he does see a slight change. “I hold an alcohol symposium with some other people for students. Last year the questions from the students were much more serious than in the previous years. It is beginning to take hold and we are seeing a shift.”

Bar turnover

DSC’s Lennard sees this as well. “I can’t prove it, but I have the impression that stories about alcohol and addiction are taken more seriously these days. It is less of a laughing matter than, say, five years ago.”

Looking at the bar turnover, Sint Jansbrug sees the amount of beer with alcohol sold dropping and that of alcohol free beer increasing.

Vera, Virgiel’s Chair, thinks that the student associations have made giant strides by working on their discussion culture. “We increasingly see that we are not the only ones to address each other on excessive drinking, but people’s friends are doing this too. This is already a gain, though it can of course always be improved.”