The music was blaring, the air thick with smoke and excitement. Drinks were passed around and lying on the floor. This was not a scene at a nightclub but at Central Oregon Community College’s Wickiup hall. It’s estimated to have gone on for five hours before community assistants entered the dorm and shut the party down, less than 48 hours into fall term of 2024.
The door left wide open, over two dozen students were initially charged with consumption of alcohol, smoking and complicity. Overall, 40 were said to have been apprehended altogether. Each student was subjected to an informal disciplinary hearing, and at least 15 were found guilty and subjected to a second hearing.
This vignette reflects the ongoing presence of substance use in the dorm. A wide range can be found including marijuana, alcohol, e-cigarettes, oral nicotine patches and more. The dangers of both marijuana and alcohol have been well documented over many decades, like cognitive decline with cannabis and organ failure due to alcohol, not including their addictive nature.
But e-cigarettes and oral nicotine patches remain under-researched. Both contain nicotine, a highly addictive substance that can affect adolescent brain development. The brain does not stop developing until mid-to-late 20s. The liquid smoked in e-cigarettes, aerosol, can contain nickel, tin, lead and other cancer causing chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
For better and for worse, students in college are building health habits that may last the rest of their lifetime. The Broadside interviewed COCC students and staff to look further into substance use on campus. Students said they use substances to fit in or conform to peer pressure and some attribute it to the stress of school. Others attributed it to boredom, of living in a small town with little going on and a negligible night-life. This boredom is coupled with many students’ newfound independence–being away from home, and a litany of other contributing factors.
Students agreed that the most common substances are marijuana and alcohol. Pete Foley, a mechanical engineering major at COCC, detailed his many experiences with cannabis. “I know a lot of people who smoke a lot of weed…. I can’t think of one dorm room that doesn’t.” Others agreed that the Wickiup elevator often reeks of marijuana, and that the fourth and fifth floor can often be found smelling the same.
Foley discussed a situation of peer pressure, in which a weed pen was shoved forcefully into his mouth, the entire room chanting for Foley to partake. He declined. But more than beginning at an early age, Foley connected substance with autism and explains how, as someone with autism, he deals often with an annoying voice in his head. Though he doesn’t smoke he said others with autism do, “…to get away from it all.”
A study from Cambridge University corroborates this. “Autistic adults were nearly nine times more likely than non-autistic peers to report using recreational drugs (such as marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines) to manage unwanted symptoms, including autism-related symptoms.”
Mia Mitchell, studying hospitality management, said marijuana specifically has been romanticized by the media and that said celebrities like Snoop Dogg encourage substance use.
Another student, whose name is withheld, commented on her usage during previous terms at COCC. “That was what my environment was doing, as soon as I stopped I started getting excluded…I separated myself because I can’t keep doing what you guys (users) are doing.”
Peer pressure is a common thread in interviews with users, as encountered with an additional student, whose name was also withheld. She detailed an altercation between her and a friend: “one time, I was with a group of friends drinking and tried to go to bed because I had to get up for classes the next morning and she wouldn’t let me go to bed.”
Though sometimes this student felt guilty for not standing up for herself in moments like these, she felt more touched that her company was desired so strongly. She habitually uses various substances and said they are used to celebrate, as a distraction, and to relax. Depression and stress are certainly not uncommon in a college setting, for many reasons–she mentioned seeing a friend who had just lost their job drinking at 11 a.m.
She said there haven’t been nearly as many parties on campus this year, attributing this change to the new school administration. “They’ve really cracked down,” she stated, and claimed that the security cameras are more closely watched; activities once done much more in the open like openly taking hits from their e-cigarettes were no longer seen.
As an example of the strong difference from the past to now, she described an event in which a Community Assistant had found a bottle of alcohol in a student’s room and thereafter reported it to the Assistant Director of Housing and Residence Life at the time, “he basically just told (the students) to do it in the parking lot next time.”
This student concluded that she wished the substance use was less normalized, and advocates for self-moderation. She maintained that authority stepping in will not change the issue, and that if the crackdowns went any further it would just be an invasion of privacy. People should have the freedom to partake, but “There’s just a thin line between it being a problem for people and their education and their relationships.”
Grace Buczynski, double majoring in humanities and journalism, said she has seen students using recreational drugs like marijuana and alcohol but also harder drugs, like cocaine, acid and mushrooms. She explained that her sobriety of over six months clashes heavily with the large presence of substances in the dorms. “It’s hard as someone who, like, wants to choose better for myself and make better decisions, it’s hard to be surrounded by it constantly.”
She said seeing peers and friends drinking and smoking can make anyone who abstains feel like the odd one out. Buczynski added that the level of substance abuse seen likely represents some sort of underlying problem, not simply peer pressure.
Halloween night…I saw someone finish off an entire handle of Tito’s. Do you know how much alcohol that is? That would take down a bear! And he’s just walking around, and I’m like, oh my gosh…. That’s really, really scary. And the fact that it’s not affecting them as much as it should be is also really scary, because then they think, oh, I need more to…feel something, but then they’re going to end up getting alcohol poisoning or overdosing on something.
Buczynski said she wishes the college would take action in multiple forms: a wider variety of free activities and spaces for students on campus, and some form of AA meetings or drug diversion classes.
This winter, Wickiup Hall held a “Casino Night” that featured mocktails and money-free gambling. This event had educational material on binge-drinking and promoted a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. In the spring term a class will host a student-led campaign to address the substance use in young adults specifically. Free Mt. Hoodoo lift tickets for COCC are available, and a number of other free events held each month specifically for COCC students.
Although this seems to contradict Buczynski’s testimony, it rather speaks to the lack of visibility these events receive. This moreover perpetuates the idea that no free events are held for students. Another possible contributing factor are the bulletin boards. Often overcrowded with posters, they can diminish promotional material for events.
Buczynski expressed scepticism that students will stop using drugs and alcohol because of anything the college does. She explained that in order to get clean and maintain that lifestyle it has to be change from within. However she did urge COCC to raise further awareness of safe spaces that students can go and try to have supportive programs for those who want to escape the lifestyle.
Speaking to substance users directly, Buczynski finished with, “anyone who uses needs to know that they are cared about and they are loved, and people would rather see them healthy in here than withering away and then dead.” Anyone who wants to make the change has the power to.
Another student interviewed cited an increased usage in substances, specifically vaping, since starting at COCC in fall term of last year. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve gone without vaping. I’d say it’s the most addictive out of all of them.”
She continued, explaining the multitude of reasons as to why they’re on this path. Growing up in a small town, and having increased use first to fit in, this habit has been abetted by easy access. E-cigarettes are accessible online with no verification. Fake IDs are locally available. Parents that buy substances for their children, or are otherwise apathetic.
She said,
It’s like, once you start, it feels like you can’t stop…it gets me going through work, that’s the biggest one. I rarely, rarely vape when I’m in classes. But then, like at work, I don’t smoke weed, but I do vape a lot at work, because it’s just kind of, it’s an energy….I don’t even realize it half the time, even, like, when I don’t have them in my hand…(there is still)
the motion of the inhale, exhale.
This student knows it’s not a healthy habit and listed the steps she’s taking to cut down: talking to professionals who can assist. Echoing other students’ accounts, she advocated for this change to come from personal desire. Nagging authority, as she described, cannot force a person to change. The latter will only result in more tension and unwillingness to change.
The student added that though substance abuse is damaging to students, sexual harassment is worse, having heard multiple accounts. “Students are just scared to go to the CAs….I have experienced it hands on myself….It just feels like it’s gonna, one, make the situation worse, and two, it’s just it’s really embarrassing and shameful.” Even when incidents are made public, nothing seems to get done, according to her.
What worsens the situation is that CAs are unaware of these situations happening–the cycle repeats. The recent Casino Night held at Wickiup Hall last month was a multipronged initiative made on account of CAs, residence life coordinator and others.
Anna Robinson, CA at Wikiup Hall, explained that the event was put on to be inclusive for all students, give them an opportunity to meet their CAs, among other things. Though other, similar events have been held, not enough students feel comfortable enough to confide in their CAs.
The Broadside spoke with both Jeremy Abbey and Andrew Davis to learn more about COCC’s awareness of drug and alcohol usage. Jeremy Abbey, student care and conduct coordinator, declined to disclose information regarding student parties citing FERPA, a federal law protecting student privacy. Though he encouraged students to educate themselves on their rights, privileges and responsibilities as students.
Davis, director of student life, expressed the college’s awareness and acknowledged that students are in a very formative time in their life; being conscious of their choices is what matters most. Davis spoke on the various ways that COCC has advocated against substance use. This includes the housing agreement that specifies a substance free campus, annual notifications from the admissions office, and events like Casino Night. Regarding students choices at odds with campus policies, Davis said,
Students are still autonomous, they have the right to make choices. But… when they choose to live on campus…(one) of the things they have to understand is that they voluntarily give up some of those choices.… One of the choices that they have to be responsible for is saying that they won’t engage in those behaviors on campus…those choices can come with consequences.
Right or wrong, students seem to feel it is their choice to make.
