NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The loud music could be heard down the block and students carried red Solo cups as they mingled in a grassy courtyard. Inside, students huddled around three lukewarm kegs in the corner, the alcohol at the bar already gone. It was a typical Friday night in a dorm room in one of the residential colleges at Yale.
A seemingly uninhibited stream of libations swirls throughout the university--alcohol is a central focus of Yale's social life. Driven by a thriving residential college system that seems to overlook underage drinking, the campus scene is supplemented by parties and other activities hosted by cultural and extracurricular groups.
Only 15 percent of the study body is involved in greek life and fraternities and sororities are a complementary rather than primary piece of the social scene. Secret societies draw many of the raves and complaints that fraternities do at Duke. And nearby New Haven bars and clubs attract Yalies as they approach graduation.
Yale social life is something that Richard Brodhead, president-elect of Duke and current dean of Yale College, has worked to make an integral part of a Yale education. Although today's weekend events are different than the ones Brodhead experienced when he was an undergraduate at Yale, part of his job as dean over the last nine years has been to foster all aspects of undergraduate life--including what students do outside of class, even when they're drinking.
"What's right for Duke won't at all be what's right for Yale," Brodhead said.
But at a time when Duke students have become increasingly frustrated that the on-campus party scene seems to be fading in the face of increased alcohol regulation and oversight by residence life staff, most Yalies reported enjoying their weekend options.
"Social life here is really good, especially compared to other schools," sophomore Zach Soto said. "It's more lively."
Part of that vibrancy comes from the variety of options Yale students have. On any given night there are plays and concerts, parties in the colleges with free alcohol, and a thriving off-campus bar scene less than a five minute walk from student housing.
By almost all accounts, residential colleges--the randomly assigned dormitories that function like selective houses--drive Yale's social life. Each college has a group of rooms unofficially known as "the party suite." Although the contract is informal, students and administrators know that that choosing these rooms during housing draw is an agreement to throw several college-sponsored parties a semester.
In fact, several colleges host elections or application processes for these rooms. The inhabitants--and their ability to live it up--are seen as vital to the college's social vibrancy. The most senior college administrator, the master, will even invite students himself.
Colleges technically do not pay for alcohol, but they will pay for food at parties. In turn, most groups have devised a system of turning in extra grocery store receipts to recoup the expense of kegs and Aristocrat.
"People find a way," said one resident in a party suite.
The university as a whole takes a don't-ask-don't-tell approach to drinking. Amidst students swimming in cocktails and guzzling pale ales, official policy states that only those of legal age are allowed to drink. The official university statement is the same as Duke's but the enforcement at Yale is virtually nonexistent, students say.
To that extent, no one checks identification and no police rove around campus attempting to spot wayward cans of cheap beer. In fact, few students even drink cans of beer--kegs and hard alcohol are the staples of inebriation. No resident advisors, graduate assistants or residential coordinators exist: Students at Yale drink the same cheap liquor that Duke students do, but they do it with their doors open.
"There's no such thing as a citation," senior Dave Pattillo said.
Kegs are not allowed on Old Campus, where most freshmen live, but to host a keg party anywhere else, any student just needs to register at his college administrator's office--no organizational affiliations required. There are no bartending fees or special university-approved suppliers like there are at Duke.
Yale acknowledges underage drinking as a fact of life and has made their primary concern student safety, students said. Students can go to University Health Services without any record of it, and no administrator is responsible for policing students. Many students take advantage of these policies and have stories of bringing friends to the hospital who were too drunk to be left alone without fear of repercussions.
At Duke, students who have exceeded safe drinking limits must go to the emergency department and in turn face insurance bills, or must deal with resident advisors, who are required to report alcohol violations to the deans.
Occasionally administrators at Yale will step in when alcohol-induced offenses are particularly egregious. "The majority of the cases where I've had to intervene have been alcohol problems, drunkenness," said Steven Smith, master of Branford College.
Brodhead acknowledged Yale's lax enforcement of the alcohol policy. "I never yet was at a school where the legal drinking age was not 21, and I never yet was at a school where people did not do it," he said.
However, he hesitated to comment on Duke's alcohol policy. Several major social events focused on drinking are scattered throughout the year including two University-wide formals, a Spring Fling concert roughly equivalent to Last Day of Classes, several major events put on by residential colleges such as a massive casino night and other theme parties and a Delta Kappa Epsilon-sponsored beer-chugging contest called Tang. But Tang is the only high-profile greek event at Yale. Most of the time, fraternities are merely one social outlet on campus. Most fraternity parties are not large in size but provide an alternate option once other parties have died down. "They're mostly a late night thing--unless you're in one," said senior Whitney Bull. Less than 6 percent of female students are in sororities; 10 percent of men are in fraternities. The fraternities have houses off campus on streets adjacent to the residential colleges, but there is no central oversight system. "I wouldn't trade our autonomy for university housing," Howie Han, president of Sigma Chi, said. Han also noted that the fraternity party scene is well-complemented by other organizations on campus, such as cultural centers and a cappella groups. Despite the plethora of activities at Yale, students share Duke students' complaints about spending nights alone in their beds and hooking up occasionally. "No one dates here," sophomore Gita Subramony said, echoing a common sentiment. The Yale College Council, the student government, has recently created a Yale version of Friendster to help students find each other. The website started in mid-February and most undergraduates have profiles on it, but few say they have actually made many new connections through it. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Yale social life is the secret societies. Membership in these organizations, which started in the 1800s when fraternities were first forced off campus, is extended to accomplished Yalies by invitation only during junior year. The societies are exclusive social networks of alumni and campus leaders. Most of the time they do not affect underclassmen, but when juniors are getting selected or "tapped" into them, some people become intensely competitive about joining the most prestigious one. "Most people are pretty relaxed about it," junior Yaw Anim said, "but some juniors take it too far." Once upperclassmen--primarily seniors--join societies, they spend about half their social time with the groups and the rest with friends in bars around campus. Some students likened the societies to fraternities at other schools; others decried them as elitist organizations that segregate the social scene. Just like at Duke, much of Yale's social scene lies off campus, especially for upperclassmen. More than a dozen bars are nestled into the streets between the colleges, as close as any academic building. Since the campus is urban, few students have cars and driving drunk to off-campus locations is of little concern. New Haven used to be an easy place to go bar hopping underage, but the past few years have seen a crackdown on underage drinking by the city of New Haven. Naples--a traditional beer and pizza joint famous for never carding--lost its liquor license temporarily for serving minors three years ago. But upperclassmen still flock to traditional New Haven venues, like Toad's--the famed music club where senior Alix Epstein says, "literally every senior goes on Saturday nights." Seniors say they rarely attend parties on campus because they're full of freshmen. The whole class flocks to the same few pubs, creating the senior bar experience that is the same at almost every college. So by the time Yalies are ready to graduate, their Thursday nights at Rudy's, the classic Yale senior bar, feel a lot like Duke's Thursday nights at Satisfaction's.
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