At Cambridge University a worrying amount of our social interaction operates through alcohol consumption and binge drinking. It’s worth assessing whether the place alcohol takes at the beating heart of Cambridge social life is completely justified. Cambridge’s reliance on alcohol is by no means a problem unique to the university, or even to universities in general; it’s common knowledge that Britain has something of a drinking culture.

Recent evidence suggests that regular excessive consumption of alcohol can lead to a significant deterioration of one’s mental health, which is already being put under intense strain for many at university. A recent Camfess illustrates the misery of one student in this situation, struggling to deal with a friendship group that hinges on excessive alcohol consumption and substance abuse. Their attempt to call out such self-destructive behaviour was met with dismissal. Whilst it’s easy to assume that such an extreme situation is miles away from our own, this attitude may run deeper than we like to admit.

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Many students at Cambridge are now making the choice not to drink, whether for personal, health or religious reasons. Wolfson College (with its supposed understanding of diversity) should be celebrating this.

I am not asking for you to stop selling alcohol altogether, I am simply asking for a separate alcohol-free ticket to be sold to students who choose to abstain from drinking. This is an important issue for me, as my one year of sobriety gets ever closer, I would love to be able to celebrate with my friends, and I know that having a pre-paid ticket *with alcohol included* would greatly hinder my night, and to be honest, would probably mean I would not attend.