Though times have changed and certain aspects of student culture are completely different than what they used to be, some aspects of “going out” still are the same and likely won’t change anytime soon.

Fun in a dry city
Before the late 1960s, MSU students didn’t have local drinking options at all. A 1907 ordinance prohibited the sale, possession and consumption of alcohol within city limits until the ordinance was revised by popular vote in 1968.

Even the act of going out with friends was more restricted during that time period. The university had a policy requiring students living in dorms to be in their rooms by 11 p.m., 1966 MSU graduate and current San Diego resident Carol Pramas said.

Pramas said she did not drink when she was a student but would sometimes go out with her boyfriend and other friends on the weekends to the movie theater or the downtown IHOP. Pramas often would get in trouble with the university if she came back later than 11 p.m. or did not return to her dorm. At one point she was expelled from the university for committing too many violations. She later was reinstated by her adviser.

“I wasn’t doing anything wrong — I was just late and didn’t want to face the hassle (of getting back into the dorm). … It happened three or four times, and I was kicked out of school,” Pramas said.

“It was probably the worst thing that had ever happened to me.”
Restrictive rules such as this likely were highly unpopular and would not have been acceptable to students today, no-preference freshman Lily Coates said.

“I don’t think that it’s right to tell people above the age of 18 when they have to be back and who they can hang out with in their room,” Coates said. “If these rules were still in place, my life would be a lot different than it is now. … I probably wouldn’t bother going out if I had to be back by 11.”

Coates, who typically goes out on Friday and Saturday nights, said she is glad the rules have changed since that time but said she wishes it were more convenient for students to get into the dorms after midnight.

Prior to the 1960’s, many students had their fun at college proms and other dances sponsored by the school. Whitney Miller, a university archivist, said MSU formal dances often were held up to six times a year and were popular among the student body.

“The dances weren’t always on campus: They were sometimes more formalized and held in hotels in downtown Lansing,” she said.

Whitney Miller, the author of “East Lansing: Collegeville Revisited,” a book looking back on the MSU and East Lansing community throughout the years, said formal dances still are occasionally held by the university but not at the scale they once were because of increased campus size and a change in culture and interests of students.

“It’s not even possible to have an all-university event (anymore) just because of the size of campus,” she said.

Different laws, different habits
For a period of time in the 1970s, students under the age of 18 were able to haunt local watering holes alongside their older counterparts. Because of the age allowance, some students had different partying habits than students who attend MSU today.

Farmington Hills, Mich., resident and 1978 MSU graduate Al Miller said he frequented bars such as Coral Gables, 2838 E. Grand River Ave., which is now a show room and banquet hall instead of a bar, and Lizard’s, a now-defunct bar in the space presently occupied by Rick’s American Cafe, 224 Abbot Road. He said he typically went out to see live performances from local bands or to relax but would just have a drink or two to socialize.

“You didn’t have to sit in an apartment or dorm and drink — you could just go somewhere and have a beer,” Al Miller said.

Al Miller said the nature of drinking among college students might have changed since he attended MSU.

“We still had some people that would get out of hand, but it was commonplace to have a beer not just to get drunk,” Miller said. “It was more of a socializing-type thing.”

Drinking regulations were a lot less strict for students in the 1970s and 80s, but many drinkers in those days likely were more responsible, said international relations sophomore Ricky Borromeo.

“I think that back then people weren’t so strict about drinking, (but) I also think people weren’t so stupid back then,” Borromeo said. “We get pretty crazy sometimes. I think some of us don’t know how to drink.”

Sign of the times
When East Lansing police Capt. Tom Johnstone started working as an East Lansing police officer in 1984, the alcohol situation in the area was much worse than it currently is because of the availability of alcohol for almost anyone who wanted it, Johnstone said.

According to East Lansing Police Department reports from 1998 to 2007, the number of alcohol-related arrests in the city regarding minor in possession, open alcohol violations and disorderly conduct have gone down through the years, but drunk driving arrests have gone up significantly.

Johnstone said he doesn’t attribute these numbers necessarily to less violations or more drunk drivers, but he said the priorities of officers and who they arrest have changed and become more strict on the drunk-driving front to make sure everyone on the streets is safe.

“(Drunk driving is) a huge fear for us every night that we work when we have that many people out on the street,” he said.
Johnstone said it was important to note much of the MSU drinking population does so responsibly and is a relatively small proportion when compared to other arrests made in East Lansing.

“If you consider how many MSU students are here and how many actually get tickets, it’s a pretty small percentage,” Johnstone said. “Most people don’t get in trouble. Most people do the right thing, but I think we lose track of that when we’re looking at the numbers.”

Johnstone said people unaffiliated with the university who visit campus for special events, such as home football games or MSU’s Fall Welcome, often cause more problems than students going out on any given weekend. He said since Fall Welcome was shortened to three days, the number of arrests made during that time has decreased considerably.

Tammye Coles, associate director of the Department of Student Life at MSU, said the level of alcohol consumed by students during that time has reduced since the Fall Welcome was shortened but that it wasn’t the only reason the university moved forward with the change.

She said the university wanted to better acquaint students with typical life at MSU and help them learn to balance socializing and school obligations early on in their college careers.

“We were trying to give students an opportunity to mirror what they were going to encounter (in daily life of college),” Coles said.

“By shortening the week, we were able to mirror the college experience. It allows students more time to transition and gives them an opportunity to be able to balance things out at the very beginning.”

A change in the scene
When Ben Walukonis goes out with his friends, they typically pregame with a few shots or a beer before heading to a bar.

Walukonis, a music education senior, said because frequenting bars tends to be rather expensive, he and his friends choose the place with the best nightly special to best enjoy the experience.

“It’s expensive, but it’s the most accessible way to have fun sometimes,” he said.

Walukonis said he usually goes out to bars when he wants to drink and relax but occasionally goes to clubs to dance or to karaoke bars to get a slightly different experience. He said he and his friends often will go to house parties as well because they are less costly.

Even with many bar options for today’s students, there are fewer bars and less diversity among bars than there used to be, Whitney Miller said.

East Lansing formerly had more country and western bars, two discotheques and bars more likely to host live acts, she said.
“I think bars (in the 1970s and 80s) were much more diverse — there was a much larger music scene as well,” Whitney Miller said.

Natural change in the times and in culture amongst students likely brought about today’s East Lansing bar scene, she said.

The advent of technology also has changed the nature of how students go out to the bars or to parties and what they do when they get there, said Kerri Quarles, a 1989 MSU graduate and a current resident of Williamsville, New York.

“Back in the day, no one was texting or talking on their cell phones at bars or parties because we didn’t even have them yet,” Quarles said.

Technology also has changed the way bars interact with students, Pat Riley, owner of Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., said in an e-mail.

Riley said advertising for bars used to be done primarily through newspapers but often is done through online mediums, such as Facebook, now to better connect with a new generation of students.

“Our biggest adaptation to students’ interests has mainly been in how we interact with them,” Riley said. “In the past, it was through print advertising; now, it’s through the use of various social media.”

Riley said he has noticed a slight drop in the number of students who come to his bar regularly but sees an increase during popular nights to go out, such as New Year’s Eve.

“Currently, students may be going out a little less in general but tend to go out in larger numbers for special events,” he said.

Making memories
Many current students who go out to the bars typically do so to spend time with their friends and relax, not just to drink, Walukonis said.

“The high point of the night is making memories with your friends — it’s never about seeing how drunk somebody can get or seeing who can drink the most or blow the most money,” Walukonis said.
For some alumni such as Quarles, some bar experiences had in college days not only made for good memories but also changed lives forever.

“After returning from our Rose Bowl victory (in 1988), we all went out (to the bars) before school started back up,” she said. “My good friend, who I wasn’t officially dating, told me he loved me. He is now my husband.”

Quarles said moments such as this and other bonding experiences students have when going out and socializing still bring MSU students together in the same way it has in the past.

“Students are attending MSU for the same reason we did: … a great education at a well-known Big Ten school,” Quarles said.

“The students still have the same pride and school spirit as we did, which is wonderful to see.”