Tufts students who are under 21 and looking for a night of bowling, pool or dancing in Boston are out of luck.
For example, Jillian's - the Fenway-area entertainment megaplex that includes two full-service restaurants, professional billiards, an upscale bowling lounge and a dance floor - asks underage patrons to leave when the clock strikes 8 p.m.
According to Megan Leo, a manager at Jillian's, this is done in order to maintain a certain adult atmosphere. "Sundays and Thursdays, it's 18-plus after 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays, it's 21-plus at all times," said Leo, adding that "anyone under 18 must always be accompanied by an adult."
Many other venues that provide entertainment and activities for the young-adult crowd turn them away if they are under 21. Such places include bowling alleys, billiards halls and even restaurants - some of which close their doors on weekend nights to the under-21 crowd.
King's Bowling and Billiards in Back Bay closes out the underage crowd at 6 p.m., and the Boston Billiard Club completely closes its doors to youngsters Thursday through Saturday - or any day when there is a Red Sox or Patriots game.
Other popular activities such as "party buses" and cruise lines are off-limits to the underage crowd. For example, Carnival Cruise Lines is closed to those under 21 years of age unless an adult accompanies them on the ship.
"It seems sort of weird that you have to be 21 to get into those places [when you can do those activities] without drinking," 18-year-old freshman Lucy Pollack said. "I don't really know what [Boston nightlife] is like."
In a city that is known for its high number of colleges and universities (according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, there are approximately 100,000 undergraduates in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline), a large percentage of undergraduates are kept from enjoying much of what Boston has to offer due to their age - and are thus forced to remain in dorm rooms and on-campus parties for weekend activities.
"I lost my [fake] ID the first week of school, so I haven't really ventured too far off campus on the weekends," Pollack said.
According to Margot Abels, Director of Alcohol and Drug Prevention Services at Tufts, "for those people that would seek out a substance free environment - or might benefit from exposure to one - I think there are many options."
"Finding them, getting to them, paying for them may be obstacles," she added.
Discussion of drinking naturally brings up discussion of the legal drinking age, 21. The Massachusetts law that sets the age for the legal purchase and consumption of alcohol has been amended three times since 1933, when it was set at 21 after the repeal of prohibition. In 1973, the age was lowered to 18. It was raised to 20 in 1979, and has been set at 21 since a legal decision made in 1985.
According to some students, legal entry into bars before age 21 might curb some of the social activities that center around binge drinking.
"At college parties, the atmosphere is centered around serious binge drinking, while when you go to a bar there's an older atmosphere and you are on a budget, so you definitely can't drink as much," said 21-year-old senior Deepali Maheshwari.
But Abels said that binge drinking is a larger problem that has no simple solution.
"I think the jury is still out on whether simply offering substance-free social options will reduce the problem of binge drinking," she said. "I think it's much more complicated in terms of why people choose to drink so heavily that they might put themselves in harm's way - and what cultural beliefs or norms support this kind of behavior and personal decision-making."
"Choosing not to drink or to drink socially or moderately is very different than misusing alcohol," Abels said.
Boston nightclubs have select under-21 nights, but most bars are extremely strict about keeping out those who are underage - and especially strict about keeping out those with fake IDs. This stringency is very different from what some students coming from other cities - and countries - are used to.
Junior Francheska Sanchez, who has yet to turn 21 and is from Puerto Rico, agreed that it could be a culture shock for students who come to school in Boston. "Legally the drinking age is 18 in Puerto Rico," Sanchez said. "But culturally, people start drinking at home with their parents very young, by age 13, and you can get into clubs by age 16."
"So when you come here it is a very big shock," Sanchez said. "Students are so desperate to drink because they have never had one in their lives, and for us [drinking] is normal."
According to 21-year-old senior and New York native Ajaita Shah, "New York seems to be a city where there are more nightlife opportunities than Boston no matter what age you are. Not only is it harder to enter bars [in Boston when you are under 21], but even when it comes to [fake] IDs, they are a lot stricter."
"It's different here than in New York City because there is nowhere in Boston to get a fake [ID] if you wanted one," said 21-year-old senior and New York native Maggie Lovett, who added that in New York there are "more than a few" places to buy fake IDs right off the streets.
"And [in Boston], bouncers study IDs and know everything that could be fake about them," Lovett added.
As a result, underage students with fake IDs are wary: "I'd say that about half of my friends have [fake] IDs and use them pretty regularly, but those who do have said that they're sometimes nervous about using them in certain places," Pollack said.
"The main difference between here and there is that most of the time the owners or bouncers didn't really care that much in New York, but here since most of the patrons are students people are more aware and judge more," she added.
Other students reported that Jumbos don't usually venture onto the Boston nighttime scene until they can legally drink. "Turning 21 really coincides with house parties and frat parties getting old, and it really forces you go to into the city," Maheshwari said.
According to senior Catie Connolly, who has yet to turn 21, students only seem to realize what they were missing and venture out in Boston once they turn legal - or when all their friends are legal.
"It didn't matter as a freshman or sophomore because everyone was under 21, and no one wanted to risk trying to get into bars in Boston," Connolly said.
"But for the past few months, I have had to scramble to find someone's ID if I knew all of my friends were going into Boston," she added.
