Former Brown resident defends dorm

As a former resident of Brown Dormitory, I felt that The Chronicle’s article “Alcohol flows in Brown dorm” portrayed Brown in an negative light. There are a few things I would like to say on the subject of Brown and the reality of its “substance-free” nature.

Yes, some people in Brown drink. Yes, people in Brown are not supposed to drink under their contract. But of course, considering that all of East Campus is composed of freshmen, almost all of whom are under 21, almost no one is supposed to drink. A lot of people who aren’t supposed to drink do. What differentiates Brown from the rest of the freshman dorms is the attitude people have about drinking. Those who did drink generally did not do so in the dorm.

And yes, there are students who did not drink. For those of us who fell into this category, Brown provided a welcome alternative. It made it easier to find people who didn’t want to drink and wanted to do other things for fun. It also helped lessen the peer pressure to drink that I feel exists for people living in non-substance free dorms.

As for James Coyne’s statement that “the Brown stigma is not about substance-free, but fun-free,” the fact that this stigma exists is absolutely ridiculous. People need to realize Brown residents have just as much fun as everyone else. How much fun you have in college depends on you and you alone, not what dorm you live in. There were Brown residents that went out to Parizade and Shooters or various frat parties every weekend. Brown residents had just as much fun as the rest of campus. It might not have been fun in the same way as a lot of students, but we did have a lot of fun. I also feel that Brown, at least in my year, was one of the most closely-knit groups of people on campus. Our dorm had a real sense of community to it.

While I obviously don’t speak for everyone who lived in Brown, I feel that living in Brown was a great experience, and, even if some of the residents did drink, I don’t think that is reason enough for Residential Life and Housing Services to be assessing “the practicability and future viability of Brown.” I think it offers an option that enough students want to justify its continuation.

Katie Zimmerman

Trinity ’07