NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Dorm to Be ‘Substance-Free’

Cal State Northridge officials plan to set aside two floors in a dormitory next year for students who don’t drink and want a break from college drinking parties.

The “substance-free” hall in the Phase Three Housing project on the corner of Zelzah Avenue and Lassen Street will accommodate about 80 students, said Cindy Derrico, CSUN assistant director for residential life.

Students who volunteer to live there will be guaranteed an alcohol- and tobacco-free environment, she said.

CSUN is following the lead of other state campuses, such as Cal State Chico, which is a dry campus, and Cal State Fresno, which started a substance-free dormitory last year.

The Fresno dormitory, started at the request of students, was successful enough to continue this year, said Charles Miller, Cal State Fresno assistant director of housing.

“It surprised me I was able to fill up the building,” he said.

Miller said the dormitory was noticeably free of the problems that occur in the university’s eight other dormitories. “Damages in that building are next to nothing,” he said.

It’s too early to know how many students will sign up for the substance-free hall at CSUN, Derrico said. If too few sign up, officials may scrap the plan or limit the hall to one floor, she said.

“But we do believe there is a population of students who would use it,” Derrico said, adding that students have commented that they avoid dormitories because they perceive them as noisy and wild due to alcohol use.

“This is to provide an environment for students who’d rather not be bombarded with it,” she said. “Usually, when we have to break up a party or there’s a brawl, almost always alcohol is involved.”