Alcohol is embedded in the Stanford undergraduate experience. In the spring, Terman Fountain becomes a popular spot for beer pong, rage cage and other drinking games. During Bay to Breakers, students wake up in the wee hours of the morning armed with costumes and borgs of alcohol. Following a dry period during New Student Orientation, students find themselves taking their first sips at EuroTrash, the first all-campus party of the year.

Yet in recent years, students have accused the University of waging a “war on fun,” or being “excessively bureaucratic” at the expense of fun and safety. In 2025, for example, EuroTrash was cancelled due to liability concerns. According to data from Stanford’s Office of Substance Use Programs Education & Resources (SUPER), the number of registered parties on campus has decreased over time.

SUPER Director Ralph Castro observed that the decline in member-only parties is driving the general decline in parties and that “all-campus and other parties are stable.”

“Pre-COVID[-19] a lot of the Greeks and row houses would just register member parties on the books. And sometimes they’d have them, sometimes they wouldn’t,” he said. “To be honest, they are probably still having these get-togethers. They’re just not registering them anymore.”

Resident Assistant (RA) Eli Tostado ’26 warned that the “war on fun” has carried unintended consequences because students are safer when they drink in a familiar space. “During [New Student Orientation] (NSO) week, when Stanford was cracking down on fun, a lot of our freshmen went to San Jose or San Francisco to go to clubs,” he said. “That was the scariest week.”

Castro shared that he has noticed shifts in student access to and attitudes towards substances during his time at Stanford.

“When I first got here, we were really concerned about chugging beer and beer bongs,” Castro said. “And then that shifted into hard alcohol use and shots. And then that evolved into like four loco, which was this really sweet infused drink that had 15 to 20% alcohol in it. It was called blackout in a can. And that was causing havoc. And now we moved on to flavored alcohol… we’re in the seltzer age with White Claws and such.”

To Consume

Stanford asked its freshmen to report on their drinking habits during Fall Quarter from 2010 to 2020. The report helps us understand drinking on The Farm.

The data was reported as a year-by-year catalog. The responses were remarkably stable across years, so The Daily is reporting averages for clarity.

Over half the class reported consuming alcohol in the past week. Among that half, another half reported binge drinking, or drinking more than five drinks for men or more than four drinks for women in a two-hour period, in the last two weeks. Over 70% of students saw no need to change their drinking habits after arriving at Stanford. Responses were evenly split among male and female students.

It is natural to ask follow-ups. For one, where do students drink? It turns out, students by and large drink in their residences.

We can also ask why students choose to drink or not to drink. In the affirmative, students reported drinking to have a good time. They saw drinking as a way to celebrate, connect with friends and be happy or otherwise confident.

The main reason students said they avoid alcohol is because other tasks, such as driving, take priority. Among reasons to not drink, personal values and religion ranked consistently low compared to practical concerns such as health and finances.

In short, many students consume alcohol, but they usually aim to consume safely and practically. That said, students also, at times, reported regretting their alcohol consumption.

Or To Be Consumed

Among survey respondents, the most common consequence of drinking alcohol was sickness, with regret and embarrassment as close follow-ups.

Worse, a small but notable number of students reported taking sexual advantage of others while under the influence. An even larger number of students reported being taken sexual advantage of while under the influence. In 2012-2013, the number of students who reported taking sexual advantage of others while under the influence peaked at 10%, representing 50 students. In 2019-2020, the number was closer to six students.

This data was collected from 2010 to 2020, with no data in recent years. Castro said he expects newer data to follow national trends, with more young people choosing to abstain, often for health reasons.

“People are drinking less. There are sober clubs now in SF… [Abstention] used to be 20% to 25%. Now it’s close to 40%. We are seeing a swath of students saying, yeah, I just, I don’t drink,” he said. “The health reasons might be higher than we had seen previously.”

Recently, a SUPER report found that non-transport alcohol cases remain fairly stable over the years, though the number of transports has seen a modest decline.

Action

The University has affirmed its commitment to keeping students safe. The Stanford Alcohol and Drug Program lists five goals, including shifting campus culture away from substances.

5-SURE, for example, is a student-led initiative that houses two programs: 5-SURE on Foot and 5-SURE Safe Rides. 5-SURE on Foot is a bystander intervention program that hands out snacks and water and provides walks home. The Safe Rides program is an on-campus rideshare service that operates seven days a week from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

5-SURE Safe Rides has seen an increase in calls and passengers in recent years. The gap between total calls and completed calls remains small over time.

5-SURE on Foot has seen steady but declining use among students.

5-Sure manager Joe Kaczorowski attributed the uptick in ridership to increased capacity and the launch of the rideshare app TripShot. He said the decline in foot traffic could be accounted for by “any number of variables” ranging from colder weather to snack variety.

SUPER is also working to adjust programming to better suit student needs. The office offers cups with lines to indicate a measured drink for wine and beer. In response to recent survey results where students reported concerns about drink tampering, the office began distributing cup covers.

SUPER uses data to identify and address student needs, according to Castro. “That has led to developing the cup, the cover, the naloxone,” he said. “We want to be responsive to students in the unique subcultures that we have at Stanford.”

Alcohol consumption at Stanford is a messy story, but data gives us a foundation to understand changes in culture. It is a rhetorical tool that we can use to not only assess drinking patterns but also to initiate grounded conversations about the future of alcohol on The Farm.