TT Taboo: Alcohol

Consuming alcohol is a personal choice that can be highly influenced by societal expectations and those in your close circle. A word with both negative and positive connotations, depending on your personal history with the substance. Alcohol can be considered a social lubricant, helping those who struggle to open up. It can also be a social barrier for those who do not drink and struggle to fit in because of this. Your personal history and relationship with the substance determines where on the spectrum you fall. Drinking culture in Ås is neither positive nor negative, it all depends on your perspective and experiences. All of which are valid and make up the drinking culture in Ås.

Journalist: Danique Wijnia
Illustrator: Linnea Santi Moe

3000m Øl, Spritsløyfa, Buddy week, and UKA, all fun activities that include plenty of drinking. Fun events and alcohol seem to go hand in hand here in Ås. Is this also something that is noticed by students? How do they feel about the drinking culture in Ås? Is alcohol consumption a really big part of student life? Do students feel that they can participate in student life without drinking? And how interconnected is drinking with big events, like the buddy week and UKA?

To try and find an answer to these questions, a survey was put out on Facebook with questions related to the drinking culture of Ås. The number of responses was definitely overwhelming. Apparently, this is an important topic for students, and many have opinions regarding the drinking culture in Ås. We posted both a Norwegian and English version of the survey. The Norwegian survey garnered a lot more responses than the English version. 242 respondents responded to the Norwegian survey, while the English survey only had 3 respondents, which was surprising. Most respondents were between the ages of 20-25 and more than 2/3 of the respondents were female. There were respondents from all faculties of NMBU, quite evenly spread. Two outliers were Realtek (Faculty of Science and Technology) and Handelshøyskolen (School of Economics and Business), the former having the most respondents out of all of the faculties and the latter having the least respondents.

Alcohol consumption

From most of the questions from the survey, it becomes apparent that a lot of students in Ås drink alcohol in social settings. The most consumed beverages are beer, shots, cider, wine, and cocktails. Only 14.5% say that they drink alcohol zero days out of the week on average and, thus, do not consume alcohol regularly. The rest of the respondents all respond that they at least consume one alcoholic beverage one day a week or more days of the week. This, however, does not tell us about how many alcoholic beverages people consume (an oversight in our survey). It does indicate that drinking is very much a part of people’s routine and that quite a lot of students consume alcohol.

Many students in the survey stated that drinking is part of the social aspect in Ås student life. Comments from students on the survey argue that in general parties and drinking are synonymous, while others are more specifically focused on Ås and argue that drinking is a big part of the culture and environment. Some go even further and state that drinking is part of Norwegian culture, which is an interesting argument. Drinking being part of Norwegian culture is often associated with Norwegians being able to be more open and social once they have had a couple of drinks.

“Alcohol is a big part of the party culture in this country – it has become a given that alcohol should be consumed when participating in larger events.”

Most of the respondents also report that those in their close circle all drink as well, reinforcing the normalization of drinking. 71% of respondents answered that all in their close circle drink and another 27% report that most of the people in their close circle drink. Since so many students report that they as well as their friends drink, does this mean that a lot of people are also concerned about the alcohol intake of their friends or other students? Do many students consume too much alcohol? Many reported that they are either often or sometimes concerned with others’ alcohol intake.

If true, and alcohol dependence or binge drinking are more prevalent than is known, this is not a good thing.

“I think it is scary how many people in Ås that consume alcohol at all activities they participate in. I often feel I meet people who are actually too tired for partying, but who still drink because they are not comfortable with having a sober night.”

Research has also shown that having a high alcohol intake during your time as a student can lead to an increased risk of alcohol dependency in adulthood, which is definitely something to be avoided. However, quite a lot of respondents indicate that they sometimes feel like they drink too much and almost 13% state that they definitely feel like they drink too much. If they also feel unable to change their intake of alcohol, this can become a bigger issue later in life. Alcohol can destroy everything a person holds dear. In that sense, alcohol can be dangerous, both to the consumer and their immediate surroundings.

Peer pressure

Peer pressure for drinking was the topic respondents were most divided on. The pie chart on if one experiences pressure to drink in general does not really portray this divide in the respondents. The opportunities to provide other comments showcased both extremes on the peer pressure for drinking spectrum. Some argue that there is no pressure, or if there is, people should just do whatever they want and ignore those pressuring them. Others acknowledge that peer pressure can be present, even though they themselves have not experienced it. Some single out first year students in their vulnerability to peer pressure due to them being new to the environment and most often do not yet have an established group of friends.

“If you don’t drink, it can feel like “mainstream” student life isn’t for you, and you either completely withdraw from typical social arenas or seek alternatives outside. Both can easily reinforce the feeling of being an outsider to the general student body.”

I think it is very easy, if you are confident, to stand behind your choices and not be influenced by others. However, being in a new environment and not having a strong support system can mean that people feel less confident in their opinions and feel pressured to change them. Even if you are not completely new to the environment, societal pressure can still influence one’s decision regarding alcohol. It is very easy to forget that not everyone is as confident in their opinions as some are. We are all trying to belong, and we do not want to be lonely, and that makes us do things that we might not fully support. There is still a large percentage of people who have felt pressured to drink, the majority did not state that they have never felt pressured. That could be something that we could work on.

The survey also included a question on experiencing peer pressure to drink during buddy week. The majority of the respondents did not. Still more than 35% experienced pressure to drink sometimes or often during buddy week.

“When I am sober at events it is not enough to say that “I do not drink”. Those who do not drink must always have an underlying reason not to drink. I know of several who were pressured to drink during buddy week, or that people were dissatisfied if they did not drink during various tasks in buddy week.”

Even though drinking was not necessary to participate in buddy week activities, multiple people still experienced pressure to drink. Either from peers in the group or from buddy leaders, people should feel comfortable in their decision to either drink or not drink. Of course, there were also comments that detailed that they did not feel pressured to drink during buddy week. Nevertheless, I hope that the leaders of buddy week really look into how to improve buddy week in terms of pressure to drink.

“Even though many buddies make a good effort for everyone to feel comfortable whether they drink or not, it is the case that many of the activities are characterized by alcohol and on some it is almost like you have to drink to have fun.”

Buddy week, UKA, Samfunnet, and associations

It is also not surprising that more than 70% answered that buddy week and UKA are known for their drinking culture. Although many students felt that a difference should be made between buddy week and UKA. Most felt that buddy week was mainly known for their drinking culture, while UKA was mainly about the events and alcohol just happened to coincide with those events. Buddy week was even called a russetiden 2.0. For my fellow non-Norwegians, russetiden are parties celebrating that you are almost finished with high school (Videregående skole), which includes buses and a lot of drinking. However, there were also those that argued that UKA also had many events that centered drinking, like spritsløyfa. Student associations, Samfunnet, buddy week, and UKA all have the difficulty of trying to balance the needs of those that wish to drink and those that would rather not drink. Offering both alcohol-free events and events with alcohol has been a strategy but some have argued in this survey that the events are either treated unfairly by the organization or by the student body. Not promoting the alcohol-free events as much as the events with alcohol or not attending the event because no alcohol is served, respectively. Sentiments around this issue are best summarized in the following quote from a respondent:

“The Student Society does not do enough to offer organized events outside of parties, and therefore does not sufficiently follow its own mission statement. Even when genuine attempts are made to improve the offerings, I fear that the feelings are so ingrained about what the Student Society is and should offer, that the typical Society member is not interested in non-alcoholic events. At the same time, others are reluctant to give the Student Society a chance when attempts are made to improve the offerings. This creates a self-reinforcing effect where we are unable to offer a wider range of activities for all students. We have boxed ourselves in and we can't find a way out.”

What is the drinking culture like in Ås?

It has become apparent that a lot of Ås students drink at events and activities hosted by buddy week, UKA, and Samfunnet. Almost 80% of students predicted that it was likely that they would either drink at most or all events organized by UKA, indicating that the act of drinking is highly present for most of the events. Drinking culture appears to be an integral part of the student life in Ås. Meaning that some thrive in this culture, while others would prefer if there were less societal expectations to drink. Not drinking, for some, feels like an anomaly, it is not “normal behavior”.

“A student environment that is built on as much alcohol intake as Samfunnet, the buddy week and UKA is, is not inclusive for everyone. It leads to uncertainty, exclusion and much of what is organized could have been organized without serving alcohol. There are many reasons why people choose not to drink, but still most things are organized on the premise that everyone drinks.”

However, this is not an opinion shared by everyone. Almost 50% of respondents do not feel like they need to drink to participate in student life in Ås. Only 15% felt that they have to drink to participate in student life. Thus, most students do not feel that it is a necessity, just that they enjoy having a drink during the social events. This does still mean that those who do not drink can feel those societal expectations and pressures to drink even if they are unintentionally perpetuated by those who drink.

To conclude, student life in Ås includes plenty of drinking, which is perceived by some as positive, while others really struggle with the expectation of drinking and perceive this more negatively. The truth is that both perspectives are part of the drinking culture of Ås and should be taken into account by everyone that is contributing to student life and the drinking culture in Ås. Understanding and respecting others’ decisions go a long way, as argued by some of the respondents. Talk to each other, ask people if they are struggling with peer pressure or with their own alcohol intake. Talk about what you think is a normal amount of drinking and see if people have different opinions and perspectives. It could be an interesting way to get to know your friends better or even strangers. Put some effort into understanding people’s perspectives on alcohol consumption. Peer pressure to drink and alcohol dependency are not easy topics to deal with or handle but working together and being kind and respectful, hopefully, can create a better, more inclusive environment. This would benefit all students in Ås.