Written by Charlie Gimber
Lehigh students often hear the complaint from alumni about how “the school isn’t as fun as it was five years ago.” For starters, kegs are completely banned from campus, so any fraternity caught with a keg will almost automatically be kicked out. Instead, every house buys cases of cheap beer, which is better because it eliminates the ever-present line for a refill and makes the transition between games of Beirut much faster. All Lehigh parties are supposed to be registered, which entails having security guards to ensure that no one underage is consuming alcohol. Usually, police won’t make a big deal out of it if the house president is sober enough to have a reasonable conversation, but every now and then, the police will enter a house and find the remnants of a great night—flipped tables, beer-soaked floors, empty cans, and plastic cups strewn about—and write the fraternity up.
If you’re a freshman drinking at a fraternity party and the cops come, you won’t get in trouble—as long as you’re not blackout drunk. Some freshmen get written up, and some even go to the hospital for alcohol during the first few months of school because many kids come to college without any notion as to what their limits are in such an unrestricted environment. Drug dealers are much more likely to get busted than purchasers, but if you leave drugs or drug paraphernalia out in your room during a fire alarm, which happen frequently, you may have some explaining to do. Police are persistent against narcotics, so it’s wise to stay away from drugs.