Binghamton University has offered “chemical free” housing — meaning students who live there abstain from alcohol and illegal drug use at all times — to students since 1990. Some students chose this option, but others who are placed in chem-free dormitory floors are less than enthusiastic about their housing situation.

Those who live in chem-free housing are required to sign an agreement that they will not use alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana or illegal drugs anywhere, anytime.

Justin Ahmed, a junior majoring in chemistry who lived in chem-free housing in College-in-the-Woods, said he chose it because it was the only on-campus housing left at the time he and his friends registered during his sophomore year. He also said that failure to abide by the stipulations of the chem-free agreement results in harsh punishments.

“They don’t really do the warning system in chem-free that they do around the rest of campus,” Ahmed said. “Like if someone from another [residence hall] is caught drinking underage or smoking, they’ll probably just get a warning. But if you get caught in chem-free you get kicked out, that’s how it works there.”

Ahmed said another student who lived on the same chem-free floor as him in CIW was kicked out of the community for leaving empty beer cans in the shared fridge of a suite’s common room over a long break. When an RA did a routine check of the suite and found the empty cans, the student was forced to relocate to a new community, according to Ahmed.

“He got caught for leaving garbage that declared that he was breaking the agreement,” Ahmed said. “He took the hit and packed his bags and left.”

BU currently offers nine chem-free floors on campus: four in College-in-the-Woods, two in Dickinson Community, one in Newing College, one in Hinman College and one in Mountainview College.

Grace Hoefner, senior associate director of housing and crisis management for Residential Life, said all chem-free floors were full at the start of the semester.

“There is a significant portion of the student population who wishes to maintain a healthy lifestyle and not be surrounded by the peer pressure to use alcohol and other drugs and don’t want to be impacted by the noise, mess and policy violations that often accompany people using or abusing alcohol and other drugs,” Hoefner said.

She said that Residential Life is considering expanding chem-free housing options next year.

Vicki Cheung, a first-year resident assistant in CIW’s Cayuga Hall and a senior double-majoring in psychology and political science, said chem-free living allows for a calmer dormitory atmosphere.

“It’s my first year on a chem-free floor,” Cheung said. “In the past few years I’ve been on a regular floor, but I feel like the chem-free floor is a lot more social, and maybe it’s because a lot of them are freshmen, but I absolutely love my floor.”

Ahmed said that he can understand why the University would want to create a special environment for students who do not wish to partake in drinking, smoking or other drug use, but he said he feels that the University goes too far by prohibiting occupants from drinking or smoking outside of the chem-free floors and off campus.

“They take it to a level that is totally not necessary,” Ahmed said. “As soon as I leave the University gates, it’s my life. I shouldn’t be able to get in trouble for choosing to drink a glass of wine when I’m at home with my family. They try to force you to live a certain lifestyle, and I think it’s bullshit that they enforce it off campus.”

Ahmed asserted that he is not the only student who has lived in chem-free housing who feels this way. He estimates that only about 30 percent of students living in chem-free housing actually lead a chem-free lifestyle.

“You wind up doing everything hush-hush, in dark rooms and late at night,” Ahmed said. “You have to live a life of secrecy. Even some of the chem-free RAs are doing this stuff, just like the students, in hiding. If someone says don’t do that or don’t go there, it’s human nature to do that and go there.”

Jordynn Koroschetz, an undecided sophomore who lived in chem-free housing, said she knows that students like Ahmed are less than enthusiastic about living in chem-free housing, but said she feels that chem-free housing creates a beneficial environment for students who want to study.

“I’m pretty sure not everyone abides by the rules, but the floor is under control,” Koroschetz said. “People wouldn’t [drink] in the dorms, you’d only know that they drank at all if they told you. You live a lot quieter, it was nice. No one was ever really in the common rooms, so you could study there. It was a nice environment to live and work.”

Koroschetz now lives in regular dormitory housing, but said she would return to chem-free.

“If I had to choose again I would choose chem-free again,” she said. “It’s kind of noisy where I live now.”