Another Reason to THINK Before You Send an E-mail

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I was thinking of colleges where freshmen weren't allowed to have cars, almost everyone lives on campus, and is the kind of campus setting where everything was within walking distance.

Well, then as now that applied to some campuses and not to others.

As far as the change with the 26th amendment and what lead up to it, i wasn't applying it to you as I didn't think you were that old

Oh, bless you. No, I'm not that old -- not quite. My siblings, on the other hand . . . .

Anyway, FWIW, it was in 1984 that the federal government mandated the 21-year-old minimum age for purchasing and publicly consuming alcohol as a condition of receiving federal highway money.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, then as now that applied to some campuses and not to others.

Oh, bless you. No, I'm not that old -- not quite. My siblings, on the other hand . . . .

Anyway, FWIW, it was in 1984 that the federal government mandated the 21-year-old minimum age for purchasing and publicly consuming alcohol as a condition of receiving federal highway money.

Wow...we held out for a long time. Louisiana has always been ornery!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

When a lot of us are making mention of kids now and kids before, there are quite a few things that are different and make the comparison difficult if not impossible. Many states did not raise the legal drinking age to 21 until the late 1980s (or 1990s if you're Louisiana with Frenchy Napoleonic Laws) so the parents of kids these days could often drink at 18 when they entered college. Perhaps some of that attitude or behavior has crossed the generation, and we all know of parents who are now held liable or responsible for buying alcohol for their minor children & children's friends. I know my parents were able to drink wine and beer before 21, but hard alcohol was 21+ and that state still has strange liquor laws, and many other states have those as well (Kevin, I'm looking at you and your warm beer for sale).

Well, I was in Puritanny PA, so that really doesn't work. Unless you were near enough to drive to Ohio, NY or WV, you were screwed. Our chapter apparently had formals in the 1970s in NY state but they certainly weren't close enough that it was a regular thing.

I also told MC this - I think even though we were pretty young at the time it was happening, Vietnam sort of got into our brain and made many of us grow up with a degree of distrust of authority. If that didn't do it, SNL did. That is pretty much gone today, from what I hear/see.

And I agree with Dee, we never tried to do the 21 shots on our 21st. I don't think that's a generational thing though...a few years after I graduated it was the big thing...I think it filtered down from Penn State.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I also told MC this - I think even though we were pretty young at the time it was happening, Vietnam sort of got into our brain and made many of us grow up with a degree of distrust of authority. If that didn't do it, SNL did.

Indeed. "Never trust anyone over 30."

[ComradesTrue]

For comparison, I was in school from 1991-95. Not quite the 80s, but definitely not kids of today. AGDee's experience rang true with mine.

Originally Posted by AGDee

Binge drinking was not funny or cool. Secondly, we didn't want to get so drunk that we didn't remember anything. There just seemed to be more moderation.. to get a little tipsy and maintain it was more the norm.

This was exactly the case on my campus. Plus, tipsy is more fun.

Occasionally someone over did it, but we didn't have power hours or try to do 21 shots on our 21st birthday, etc. Doing shots was pretty rare in my college world.

I don't remember ANYONE doing this. Shots, yes. Shots on your 21st? Definitely. Doing 21 of them? Not a chance.

We took care of each other. If someone was getting too drunk, we got them out of there before they were totally out of control. Perhaps it was my campus culture, but if anybody ever went to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, especially from the Greek system, we never heard about it. I really don't think it happened at all during my years in college.

I can't remember anyone going to the hospital either, and I lived in our house, which was part of the entire Greek Village, for 2 years. Yes, students passed out from drinking. But either no one drank to the extent of needing to go to the hospital, OR as has been said throughout the thread.. we had the common sense to keep it quiet.