Ban on shot glasses in dorms being questioned by students

By EMILY AINSWORTH 

The University of Mary Washington’s Student Senate recently lifted the ban on shot glasses and other alcohol related paraphernalia that encourages binge drinking.

On Sept. 14, the Senate Student body passed the termination of this ban since they found it contradictory. Shot glasses were being sold in the bookstore while still banned from residence halls, for instance. However, the news had not reached many Resident Assistants and students are still being punished for having shot glasses in their dorms.

In reporting this information for validation, RAs were asked for comment. Although, after directing these concerns to the director of ResLife, RAs were told to not disclose information. While this ban still had an effect on the student body, it did not change partying or the consumption of alcohol for students, according to the Student Senate.

Among the Student Senate body are Benjamin Purdy and Ethan Carter. Purdy, a senior political science major who was the “brains” behind the lifting of the ban.  

“It didn’t stop them from consuming alcohol, the only way that I know that it affected students’ behavior is that it was just another charge we brought forth to the JRB,” Purdy said. A student who wished to remain anonymous used her shot glass not for drinking, but for holding makeup.

“It was a sovereign shot glass from London, it mostly held lip gloss and my mascara. I was mad that my RA confiscated my shot glass during a fire drill. I only got a warning, because I was not actually drunk, but I never got my shot glass back. Apparently, this was after the ban was lifted, how frustrating,” the source said.

Similarly, Claire Stanchfield, a sophomore biology major, did not use her shot glasses for alcohol but had similar use to the anonymous student.

“I do have a shot glass in my room that I use. I keep my q-tips for my makeup in it, “Stanchfield said. “If someone took that away I would be pissed, so I do support the ban being lifted.”

Students could buy shot glasses at the bookstore as often as they pleased. These objects were not banned on campus, but only in residence halls. However, the ban was implemented by Residence Life. In the handbook, it said that students could not have anything that speeds up the intake of alcohol in their halls, and shot glasses fall under that category. Even people of age were not allowed to have shot glasses, beer bongs or other trinkets that sped up the intake of alcohol.

“In the past, students who were of age and had shot glasses in the residence halls had been penalized for it, so we just wanted to adjust what we saw was a problem,” Purdy said. Ethan Carter, junior accounting major, explained this regulation in-depth.

“RA’s were told to look for shot glasses because, they can’t have them, which applies to students of age or under age,” Carter said. “So for example, I’m 21 so I can’t have a beer bong in my room because that speeds up alcohol intake but under this previous condition that we lifted I wouldn’t have been allowed to have a shot glass either.”

The Student Senate’s job is to represent issues within the student body. Purdy brought attention to the issue and saw it as a problem that students were facing. This motion was passed within the Student Senate and then went to the SGA executive cabinet and was passed there.

Carter brought the issue to Dean Rucker and then the two of them worked together to implement the motion. According to Carter, Rucker agreed with Carter that it did not make sense that the bookstore sold shot glasses, but that they were banned in the residence halls.    

Rucker then spoke with directors to change the ban in the handbook. Carter voiced his opinion more on this issue, “Obviously if they sell six different types of shot glasses it doesn’t make sense to ban them in the residential buildings,” Carter said.