Though ASU is often referred to as a dry campus, drinking alcohol will be allowed in two residence halls next year.
Residential Life recently changed the drinking policy at the Cholla Apartments to permit its residents over age 21 to have alcohol, making it the second residence hall on campus, said Michael Coakley, director of Residential Life.
The Towers Complex, which will be managed by Residential Life next year instead of by a separate company, will also permit alcohol, Coakley said.
Jane Christie, director of the Residence Hall Association, said the policy is "something that lots of other universities have where students who are 21 can have alcohol in their rooms. "
At UA, students who are old enough are allowed to drink alcohol regardless of where they live on campus, said Greg Ziebell, assistant director of Residential Life at UA.
"Most of our halls are mixed and very few juniors and seniors live on campus," Ziebell said. "The system works well and allows freedom for the 21-year-olds."
Christie said she thinks ASU's policy changes in Cholla and the Towers are to prevent older students from moving off campus.
"I'm sure that it is to increase retention in upperclassmen students," Christie said. "A lot of students choose to live off campus because once they are 21 they want to be able to drink [in their rooms].
"If you are legally allowed to have alcohol, but you can't have it in your residence, it's kind of weird."
But the change in policy is not to get older students to stay, it is to adapt to students as they grow older, Coakley said.
"As you progress through your college career, students are going through different developmental stages and learning to drink responsibly is part of that," he added. "It's not to keep [21-year-olds] from moving off campus."
Students like journalism and theater sophomore Eddi Trevizo, 20, can see both reasons to the policy change.
"People already have it in their rooms ... and if they allow it, then they can regulate it better," Trevizo said. "But I guess the downside is that if they do allow it, there is
more of a potential for minors to get it through 21-year-olds."
Film freshman Danny McManus, 18, said he thinks alcohol should be allowed in the rooms because students have the right to have it.
"If you are over 21 you have the right to drink," he said. "It's an apartment complex so students have that right to privacy."
Reach the reporter at: heather.cutler@asu.edu.
