News

Vice-Chancellor calls on students to curb excess drinking

(23 November 2005)

As the country enters a new era of longer licensing hours, Durham students are being urged to keep control of their drinking and avoid the bad behaviour that often follows over-indulgence and causes extreme annoyance to other people.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Kenneth Calman, who was a Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health before taking up his Durham post in 1998, said he had two main concerns. One is the harm that students could cause themselves by drinking too much. The other is about the serious nuisance that a small minority of students was inflicting on other Durham residents in the early hours through noisy and thoughtless behaviour. He has sent a message to all students highlighting his concerns, the penalties facing students who cause a disturbance, and also praising the steps being taken by student representatives themselves to discourage irresponsible drinking. Sir Kenneth’s message: PROBLEMS LINKED TO STUDENT ALCOHOL ABUSE The issue of excessive student drinking has concerned me for a long time. I am concerned in a professional medical capacity because excessive drinking has serious health implications, and that is a point I’ve attempted to emphasise at every matriculation ceremony and on other occasions as well. Binge drinking, which now seems much more prevalent among young people in general, can have serious – potentially fatal – long term effects on your health. But there is another consequence of excessive drinking which causes me very serious concern as Vice-Chancellor. It relates specifically to Durham, but I hope that students throughout the University accept the general principles and follow them wherever they are. Durham is a small city with a large student population. It is a great privilege to be able to study and work in such beautiful surroundings, and City and University enjoy good and close relations. Our students in particular contribute a great deal to the local communities through their voluntary activities such as educational mentoring, sports coaching, DUCK, and Student Community Action. But all those successful and constructive relations can be negated by the actions of a few thoughtless individuals. Excess drink can, and often does, lead to loud, loutish behaviour, wilful damage and vandalism. We have already taken robust action against students who have been unable to control their drinking and behaviour and keep them at acceptable levels. I want all students to be aware of the measures that will be taken against anti-social behaviour. I welcome the fact that JCR Presidents and Sabbatical Officers at DSU have taken the matter very seriously and have been discussing how best to get the message across to the minority of students who bring all the rest into disrepute. College and DSU bars have taken steps to moderate drinking through pricing policies and a ban on drinks promotions and I welcome current moves by the students’ representatives to involve city-wide licensees in a responsible drinking policy. We’ve had numerous complaints about student behaviour from local residents, including members of the University. Their sleep, and that of their families, has been disturbed by noisy students at 2 or 3am wandering back to College from North Road and elsewhere. In some instances there has been worse behaviour. Vomit and discarded food debris have been left outside peoples’ front doors, damage and vandalism has occurred, with garden flowers uprooted and plant pots or window boxes upturned and their contents thrown around. The University – and that includes the Colleges and student officers - takes such incidents very seriously. Such behaviour is highly offensive. Students who engage in thoughtless and anti-social behaviour that brings the University into disrepute, need to be aware that they risk being fined, required to engage in community work, and confined to College. In extreme cases, they will be referred to the Senate Discipline Committee which can require students to leave Durham for a term, or expel them. Residents could well involve the police and this could lead to a criminal record. We shall also ensure that the penalties imposed on the small minority of students responsible for this kind of behaviour are widely publicised both across and beyond the University. For the sake of everyone working and living in Durham we need to send out a strong, clear message that this kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable. 22/11/05 Over the next week Durham Student’s Union will be contacting bars, inviting them to join a voluntary code of practice, and will also be contacting students to get the message across of the dangers of binge boozing. The union says it has noticed an increase in the number of alcohol related incidents involving students, since the start of the academic year in October. A campus wide alcohol awareness campaign will run alongside free soft drink promotions in the New Year.