Police to run drink awareness sessions for new first-year students

Incoming first-year students at St Andrews University are to be given anti-drinking lessons from the police. Binge drinking has become an unwelcome feature of some traditional events at the university, which may be discontinued as a result.

The annual 'Raisin Week' foam fight, where students engage in boisterous revelry, is considered the social highlight of the year at Scotland's oldest university. But in recent years the event's image has been tarnished by yobbish behaviour fuelled by binge-drinking.

Now freshers are to receive anti-drinking lessons from the police who will work with the university's student support services and associations. Officers, including the university's own liaison officer, will run a series of roadshows during freshers' week to explain the consequences of drinking excessively with regard to personal safety and what effects having a criminal record could have on their chances of getting a job or visa application.

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