People on my Campus: The Front Desk

Davood

In 1986 I was in my second semester at Boston University. In December of 1984, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in an effort not to lose federal funds for road improvements and maintenance increased the drinking age from 20 to 21. By the fall of 1985 University took a hard nosed response to the new drinking age with a much tighter set of rules and ramifications for those who broke them. Students were reeling from these moves and the impact on their social life.

Photo by Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka on Unsplash

For me, my fall semester was not entirely a fun one, I was having a difficult transition to BU. I dove into my academic work trying to show that I was ready for college level work by earning a strong GPA which could position me for transfer to a place that would be a potentially better fit. I earned a higher GPA than I ever could have imagined, and decided to realign my energy to fitting in socially while maintaining my grades. Two accomplishments that eluded me in high school: fitting in socially and getting good grades. No matter, I was ready to give social life a try. And with that, was my clumsy foray into obtaining and consuming alcohol. Something that was, if the notices from the Dean of Students were accurate, fraught with dire consequences.