Event Title
Everybody Parties, but I'm Not Like Them: Perceptions of Colby Weekend Life
Location
Diamond 123
Start Date
1-5-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 3:00 PM
Project Type
Presentation- Restricted to Campus Access
Description
This research study explored and analyzed student weekend life at Colby College in order to better understand how it may have influenced the overall student experience. The researchers used student interviews from the NECASL project to identify two prominent themes across student responses regarding their weekend life at Colby. Through our work, we came up with two dominant themes pertaining to the data: othering and isolation. The researchers found that when discussing social choices and weekend life at Colby, many students tended to claim they were not a part of the heavy drinking that goes on in order to separate themselves from the alcohol culture at Colby and the negative connotations associated with it. Another finding was that many students felt isolated from the social culture at Colby. Specifically, some of the trends in isolation stemmed from differences in International students when compared to American students. Through a review of similar studies and our own results, we concluded that Colby students use of othering language reproduced a dominant culture of drinking on campus. This use of language can lead to lack of student accountability pertaining to risky, excessive drinking habits.
Faculty Sponsor
Mark Tappan
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. Education Program
CLAS Field of Study
Interdisciplinary Studies
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
341
Everybody Parties, but I'm Not Like Them: Perceptions of Colby Weekend Life
Diamond 123
This research study explored and analyzed student weekend life at Colby College in order to better understand how it may have influenced the overall student experience. The researchers used student interviews from the NECASL project to identify two prominent themes across student responses regarding their weekend life at Colby. Through our work, we came up with two dominant themes pertaining to the data: othering and isolation. The researchers found that when discussing social choices and weekend life at Colby, many students tended to claim they were not a part of the heavy drinking that goes on in order to separate themselves from the alcohol culture at Colby and the negative connotations associated with it. Another finding was that many students felt isolated from the social culture at Colby. Specifically, some of the trends in isolation stemmed from differences in International students when compared to American students. Through a review of similar studies and our own results, we concluded that Colby students use of othering language reproduced a dominant culture of drinking on campus. This use of language can lead to lack of student accountability pertaining to risky, excessive drinking habits.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/154