Early 1990's Drinking
At the beginning of the 1990s, specifically in the year 1993, Clemson University opened up Edgar’s Bar where students of legal drinking age were allowed to purchase alcohol and drink on campus with classmates and friends.[i] At on-campus establishments such as Edgar’s there was a wide array of alcoholic beverages available for purchase such as beer, wine, wine coolers, and even soft drinks and free snacks for those students who chose not to drink. These types of establishments being created by the university was done so as a safer alternative for students who chose to drink. The thinking behind this was that if students were going to drink alcohol, and it was a well-known fact that most students did and do, then having a place to drink safely on campus without the need to drive was a necessity. This way of thinking is a far cry from today’s current situation, where there aren’t any places on campus where students are encouraged to drink and socialize.
Drinking at the university was less regulated and policed in the early 90s as compared to today, there was much more room for breaking the rules and not having to face the consequences. A study done by the university in 1993 stated that approximately 30% of first-year Clemson students reported not having drank alcohol in the last month, showing that 70% of freshman were actively drinking alcohol underage.[ii]Having such a high percentage of freshman (18 year old) students drinking shows how commonplace and lackadaisically drinking was taken on Clemson’s campus at this time. One example of this being the ability to go out onto Bowman Field and drink from a keg with your friends without anything untoward happening. If you ran out of alcohol you could simply go down to the store and buy another one since it wasn’t difficult to get even if you were underage.[iii] Drinking as a student was much more accepted during this time and it was not something that was hidden or glossed over by the university, this is evident as even the official Clemson yearbook included pictures and captions of students drinking alcohol while attending university-sponsored events.
Another major difference in the attitudes towards alcohol usage is the fact that in the early 1990s students were allowed to use alcohol at on-campus housing. This shows a clear difference in the university’s attitudes towards student alcohol usage, as they trusted them to be able to properly use alcohol while at their campus housing. Showing this faith in students to properly behave while using alcohol was a crucial component in the formation of Clemson’s drinking culture that would continue to evolve in the present day. Acknowledging the fact that students were going to drink and trusting them to do so responsibly by taking personal accountability for their actions was the university’s way of attempting to keep their students safe.
[i] TAPS Yearbook (1993)
[ii] “Binge Drinking at Clemson University a Major Problem”
[iii] Interview with Pearse Tormey