Dalhousie University bans alcohol on campus during orientation week

By Shelli Summers

HALIFAX – University orientation week is usually associated with student parties and binge drinking, but this year, Dalhousie University is taking steps to change that.

Alcohol is being banned in student residences during that week, regardless of the age of students.

Dalhousie Student Union representative Corey Larson tells Global News the move is designed to distance the school from the week’s party reputation, but is also a policy about student safety.

“It’s the university putting something in writing that they can give to students that’s physical and tangible and say there is a policy,” said Larson. “Please remember that when you come into residence this year.”

Larson says if students of age feel the ban is unfair, they always have the option to go somewhere off-campus for a drink.

He says the best time to educate students is during the first week of school when students drink with the most intensity, so they can remember what they learned for the entire school year.

Recent drinking-related deaths in Nova Scotia include a case at Acadia University in 2011, and a 19-year-old Dalhousie student who died of alcohol poisoning in 2015. That student’s parents filed a lawsuit against the university last fall.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today