<p>^^Wesleyan has one of the strongest and oldest student cultures in the country. It has literary societies and secret societies that pre-date the Civil War; they run one of the best film series in the country; they have an internationally known indie music scene. Their student government even runs its own endowment portfolio:
[Wesleyan</a> Students Set Up Endowment - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas](<a href=“http://philanthropy.com/blogs/prospecting/wesleyan-students-set-up-endowment/18937]Wesleyan”>http://philanthropy.com/blogs/prospecting/wesleyan-students-set-up-endowment/18937)</p>
<p>Apparently, what they do not do very well is hold their liquor. In fact, many alum and present members of the student body were surprised to learn that this former perennial winner of one guide book’s annual “Reefer Madness” ranking has seen alcohol replace pot as the contraband of choice amont a sizable cross-section of the student body. According to alum, there are a number of reasons for this phenomenon:</p>
<p>1) When the legal age laws for drinking in Connecticut (and other parts of the country, as well) were raised in the early 1980s, university sponsored events where so much as wine and cheese could be served suddenly became problemmatic. Suddenly, college students up and down the eastern seaboard no longer had adult role-models available to show them how to sit on a drink for more than moment or two while engaging in conversation.</p>
<p>2) The other thing that happened which may be put in the category of “be careful what you wish for” was that sometime during the last ten years or so there has been a strong effort to clamp down on smoking weed in the student dorms, perhaps in an effort to change Wesleyan’s image as a pot haven. Public safety officers were instructed to report any instances of marijuana paraphernalia directly to the Middletown Police Department - or, MPD, as they are affectionately known on campus.</p>
<p>It has taken students no time at all to arrive at the calculus that if they have to get busted for something it probably makes more sense for it to be under-age drinking tha for possession of a controlled substance, with predictable consequences. People now pre-game to the same extent that they do at other NESCAC colleges - with one difference: because it is located close to the business district of a large town, it all plays out in the full glare of the central Connecticut media.</p>