Incoming students in the late 1970s and early ’80s were easily identifiable during orientation; not by their lanyards as they are now, but instead by their bloodshot eyes and drunken stupor.

“Alcohol was the center of social activity,” said James Ferrier, the associate director of public safety. “In the seventies, during orientation week, there was a social event, the Battle of the Bands. Students would show their IDs and then gain admittance to a big alcohol, band bash. There were beer taps in Matthews [Arena] and that was the norm on every college campus.”

Up until 1982, when President Ronald Reagan recommended federal legislation requiring the drinking age be raised in all states to 21, the majority of college students could drink legally as soon as they set foot on campus.

Looking back at the ’80s and the days of drinking at 18 years of age, today’s students said age is but a number.

“No matter how high the drinking age is — there will always be people who are not mature enough to drink,” said Keith Bell, a junior mechanical engineering major. “It’s the novelty; people get trashed on their 21st birthday and they don’t even like to drink.”

Ferrier, who has seen the student demographic and alcohol consumption change over the years, agrees no matter what the drinking age, alcohol is always attainable, and students echo that sentiment.

“Age doesn’t matter, there’s always someone to supply to younger people,” said Chris Bencale, a junior network administration major.

In the early 1980s, students who were once legal were forced to find other ways to obtain alcohol. The drinking age was gradually enforced, meaning that each year, the drinking age was bumped up, eventually leveling off at 21.

Some students were always chasing the drinking age. A member of the class of 1987, Brian Burns, was always one year behind the legal age. Once Burns reached his senior year, he could legally drink and he did so on campus during Senior Week.

Burns, who is now the director of risk management for the Office of the Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance, said one event involved a large amount of beer.

“My senior year during Senior Week there was this big party at Matthews,” Burns said.

Miller trucks drove up to Matthews and students drank the beer out of the trucks.

“All the beer was included in the price of Senior Week,” he said.

Students did not only choose to drink at the on-campus pub that stood where afterHOURS is today; they also took to the streets.

“The amount of students who would be walking down the street with a beer in hand was incredible,” Ferrier said. “Public drinking was rampant.”

But yet, there were no riots and no cars were flipped, all while Beantown sports teams were winning.

“I remember in 1986 at City Hall Plaza there were these huge rallies. People were enjoying it, celebrating … no cars were being flipped over, no fires were being started, there were no disturbances,” said Ed Klotzbier, who graduated in 1987 and is now the vice president for Student Affairs.

Between 1986 and 1987, the Northeastern basketball team was in the NCAA Tournament, the Husky men’s hockey team won the Beanpot, the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship, the Red Sox were in the World Series and the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Chicago Bears.

“I’m questioning whether it’s society in general that people can get away with certain things and not be responsible for their actions … you start to wonder what’s wrong with society when people think it’s funny to flip over a car and when a woman bares her breast, you begin to wonder,” Klotzbier said. “Why?”

Eventually, Burns said, the culture changed and laws were enforced and underage drinking was not tolerated on campus. Burns also said students became more boisterous.

“It’s funny, an element of it is there is more peer pressure on the kids today,” Burns said. “You have a school today, that I wouldn’t get into.”

Burns added that students today have more pressures from society resting on their shoulders, but added that the riot mentality also did not exist in the 80s.

“People would look at it then and say, ‘Why would you riot when your team wins?'”

Klotzbier said the university is still asking itself the same question.

“I don’t know what it is, we’re trying to figure it out; we have to figure it out before the Sox win the World Series. We have to figure it out before the ACLS is at Fenway and the Sox are playing against A-Rod and the Yankees,” he said.

No matter what the drinking age is, or how the culture of consumption has changed, one issue remains, Klozbier said: “Our students need to show some responsibility.”