Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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Safe Roads Act affects social atmosphere The signs have changed. Those brightly colored, sometimes elaborate, sometimes cryptic signs put up around campus to an- nounce band parties and discos simply read SAE — After the game — 5 i egs or After disco — kegs — be there ; they now read Party before you come and bring l.D. Other signs aren ' t plastered all over cam- pus, but they are there. The Fiji ' s bought a party bus to transport partiers back and forth from campus to their house. Eighteen- year-olds don ' t buy liquid refreshment at Food Lion and 7-Eleven anymore. Perhaps the change most noticed by the majority is the absence of pitchers in the 900 Room, designed to control who ' s drinking what. They ' re all signs — signs of the new Safe Roads Act of 1983 and the effect it has had on Davidson ' s already limited social scene. The Safe Roads Act, passed by the Morth Carolina legislature in May of 1983 and tak- ing effect October 1, was designed to re- duce the number of alcohol-related driving accidents by raising the legal drinking age for beer and wine from eighteen to nineteen and strengthening the laws already on the books. Penalties for driving under the influ- ence of alcohol are now stiffer, the sale or purchase of alcohol to or by a minor results in the loss of driver ' s license and or fines, and a recent national law makes a bartend- er responsible for serving an already intoxi- cated person. Most affected by the laws are, of course, freshmen who are still under nineteen. But the law is viewed by most Davidson stu- dents as an irritation, rather than a deter- rent. Students must have an ID to get into the parties or into the 900 Room, and those whose IDs were so rudely stamped in scar- let Under 19 must go to the trouble of obtaining and consuming their alcohol be- fore going to the party, changing the age-old dilemma of making it home after the revel- ry to one of making it there at all. A major protest raged on campus for sev- eral weeks after the decision to ban pitch- ers from the 900 Room, led by those who thought they were out of reach, the 19-year- olds and older. Most protests against the law have been subtle, but the criticisms are present. Some people are incensed by the age change, claiming an 18-year-old who can vote or go to war and die like an adult can also make an adult decision about drinking. Others are offended by the obvious blame for the ma- jority of drinking related accidents being placed on the 18-year-old age group Some have even suggested that college students should be exempt from the laws since we don ' t drive anywhere anyway! The criticisms usually stop at the age change. Most students agree with the rest of the world that alcoholism and related accidents must be curbed and that the laws were not strong enough. Then there is still the shady connection between the new drinking laws and the Hon- or Code (or is it the Code Of Responsibility ... as mentioned above, it ' s still shady . . . ). So, the signs are different now. But . . . the parties are there, the beer trucks are there, and the open bars are there . . . and more often than not, the freshmen are there. — Christi Hayes May I see your l.D.? Senior Jeff Tilbury greets par- ty-goers at the door of the FIJI house. Patterson court houses have begun checking I.D. ' s and stamping hands in an effort to curtail underage consumption of alcohol. 28 STaDENT LIFE

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Freshman Howie Moyes will thlnl twice befor hitting the ski slopes again. A gathering of the wounded swapa war itoflet on the

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NO MORE PITCHERS. The new drinking law has pro- hibited the 900 Room from selling beer in pitchers. Freely flowing beer at campus parties is to become a rare sight if state legislators have their way. Drinking Laws 29