The on-site consumption of alcohol at Stellenbosch University (SU) student accommodation will be permitted once the university has approved each accommodation’s proposed set of alcohol guidelines. However, several housing units are yet to submit their guidelines and request a conversation with the university for ratification.
This is according to Pieter Kloppers, director of the Centre for Student Communities at SU who spoke to MatieMedia via email correspondence.
Stellenbosch University’s (SU) revised alcohol policy allows alcohol to be consumed within SU residences and Private Student Organisations (PSO), said Pieter Kloppers, director of the Centre for Student Communities at SU. However, specific guidelines must be followed and residents “may not consume alcohol in their individual rooms”, according to an official document released to the student leadership heads of SU residences and PSOs. This document will serve as the basis for housing units’ revised alcohol consumption guidelines. PHOTO: Téa Bell
The two-year ban placed on the consumption and sale of alcohol in SU student housing was lifted at the beginning of 2022, according to Kloppers. The university instated the ban on alcohol in residences and Private Student Organisations (PSO) in January 2020, with the intention of reducing alcohol-related incidents on campus, supplementing anti-Gender Based Violence efforts, and establishing a more “desirable culture of alcohol use”, explained Kloppers.
The ban was “never intended to be a permanent prohibition” and the university communicated that they would, “redress the ban in early 2022 once residences [and PSOs] had proposed policies to encourage a culture of more responsible drinking”, said Kloppers.
Drinking by the rules
Before drinking can be permitted in housing units, student communities must draft their own alcohol consumption guidelines in line with “what kind of residence they want to be”, said Kloppers.
One of the new rules regulates the consumption of alcohol in SU residences by placing a “restriction on the time and place where alcohol can be consumed”, he explained.
Despite the ban on alcohol being lifted, Kloppers stated that, at the time of this article’s publication, less than 20% of SU residences and PSO’s had “requested a conversation” to have their policy approved.
Several of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) residences are located along Victoria Street. Before drinking can be permitted in SU student accommodation, student communities must draft their own alcohol consumption guidelines in line with “what kind of residence they want to be”, said Pieter Kloppers, director of the Centre for Student Communities at SU. PHOTO: Téa Bell
What the students say
While Kloppers maintains that the alcohol ban instated in 2020 had its desired effect of “significantly” decreasing alcohol-related incidents in residences and PSOs, Alicia Latchman, SU student and resident of Harmonie, disagrees.
“I actually think [the ban] made the drinking culture so much worse because, instead of having a safe place to just relax and drink inside of res, you [were] forced to leave and to go to town to drink there,” stated Latchman.
Christo van der Bank, vice-chairperson of the university’s Prim Committee, echoed these sentiments. He stated that he believed the ban did not reduce alcohol-related incidents but merely “shifted where they took place”.
Lifting the alcohol policy will “have a positive effect” and might reduce alcohol-related incidents, claimed Latchman.
“Now that you’re able to have a drink inside res, if something does go wrong, you have sober people there to help you out. You don’t have to sort of stumble your way home and/or catch an Uber which is also kind of dangerous- especially being a woman,” said Latchman.
An official document entitled “Measuring the alcohol rules” released to the student leadership heads of Stellenbosch University (SU) residences demarcates some of the universal rules which must be included in SU residences’ revised alcohol policies. GRAPHIC: Téa Bell