2024: Underage Students are Missing Out Because of Alcohol at Social Events

Under 18 students say they feel they are being left out of Bond social circles because almost all student events involve alcohol.

Alcohol at events means underage students miss out on meeting new people and building friendships during their first semester.

BUSA Social Director Jessica Zanchetta said that the annual Bond Stock is now heavily focused on alcohol more than in past years.

“I think they kind of went off track… they started introducing drinks packages when people weren’t getting what they were kind of promised,” she said.

“There was a lot more focus on the alcohol side rather than making the actual week of good events.”

Bond University Clinical and Health Psychologist Dr Peta Stapleton suggests an alternative approach to socialising because serving alcohol at university events gives students the impression that drinking is a social standard.

“Young people may think alcohol lessens social anxiety and they can more easily talk to others,” said Dr Stapleton.

“But alcohol on a developing brain can lead to long-term negative outcomes, and young people don’t learn the real social skills if they have to rely on [it].

“I think we need to offer non-alcoholic events so that drinking is not normalised, and social connection can be learnt without [it].”

The events that underage students can attend are limited due to the presence of alcohol, including Palaver, the 0-week, mid-semester and end-of-semester bashes, and the weekly Thursday nights at Don’s Tavern.

First-semester student Ben Edwards said that being underage at Bond has been difficult when he misses out on attending these events with his friends.

“A lot of my mates here are 18, so they are going to all the parties,” he said.

“You have that little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) when you see everyone else out.”

Ben suggested putting a system in place so that underage students can still be a part of events instead of being forbidden to attend at all.

“I feel like the parties could be a little more inclusive,” he said.

“If they really wanted to, they could do like a wristband system.”

Bond is a private university and has the resources to organise some events not centred around alcohol.

Yet, the drinking culture is still being promoted through their weekly and semesterly parties with minimal options for alcohol-free events.

Underage students are the ones who suffer the most from this and are continually missing out on attending Bond’s most popular social events because of alcohol.