2021 Recruiting: Rocket Watts rumor

[TRest]

Definitely asked! The students I worked with simply responded that most people at UConn didn't really go out to the bars. As someone from WI, a place where bars outnumber grocery stores nearly 3:1, you can understand my confusion.

My thought was that there must have been an original cause for this. As TRest said, maybe it was allotted number of licenses or such, and the culture just formed around the circumstances.

The culture back in the early 80's was free delivery of any size order from the area package (liquor) stores to dorm rooms, and a drinking age of 18. So drinking on campus, in hallways, rooms and lounges, was easy and accessible (especially on a campus where you couldn't get a parking pass for your freshmen and soph years). As the drinking age increased to 21, the open parties decreased to the point where now kids drink behind closed doors, if at all. There are still just the few nearby beer bars, and a few more within a mile or so, but that's it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

For those of us who are a little bit older, we remember the pub in the student union. It was pretty convenient, although not as convenient as the kegs and grain punch which were pretty much on every other floor Thurs and Friday.

You predate me a few years. I just missed the student union pub. We did have pub night in the Towers common center, and one in ROTC I think. We also had the "in transit" rule freshman year (I am sure @8893 would recall), which turned every dorm into a rotating party. They shut that down the next year. Kegs not permitted in dorms, but we get around that by tapping one in a hatchback parked under the windows, and hoisting up pitchers via a milk crate and telephone wire. Creativity ruled. Definitely plenty of Kool-aid based punch, with whatever alcohol. Lots of quarters being played.

We also had MTV on campus during spring weekend, which added to an already epic weekend experience. I also learned early on, that if you went to dinner at Huskies at about 7:00 and just stayed past the point where they started checking IDs, well, you were on the inside and nobody cared.

I don't recall many house parties, they happened at Carriage House and Coventry lake, but that was certainly not the main venue for college drunken escapades.

 

[Get a Job]

Class of 2020 here, in my experience good luck going to a house party with more than 20 people that's not getting busted by the cops before 11. It seems like the only people who can take the fines associated with throwing bangers are frat's, and those are exclusive as all hell.

I weep for the youth!

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I weep for the youth!

This was not at UConn, but I have a distinct recollection of a campus cop helping us finish a party ball before he confiscated it from our room my freshman year, and an RA lined up to take a hit from the gravity bong we had set up in the hall. I doubt those things happen today.

 

[storrsroars]

“Son, can you explain why you punched out the ceiling tiles?”

“Because... alcohol?”

Because I was the tallest one in my group and the only one who could reach... and alcohol.

 

[storrsroars]

I weep for the youth!

Seriously. Back in the day, who didn't check out the annual Playboy issue with "Top Partying Colleges" to check and see if we made the cut (we often did), and then to see if we knew any of the girls in the photo?

 

[Get a Job]

Seriously. Back in the day, who didn't check out the annual Playboy issue with "Top Partying Colleges" to check and see if we made the cut (we often did), and then to see if we knew any of the girls in the photo?

I don't know if it was true, but it was common knowledge when I was there that UConn was not included in the "Top Party Schools" list, according to that year's write-up, because it was "unfair to include professionals in a list of amateurs."

 

[uchusky32]

Seriously. Back in the day, who didn't check out the annual Playboy issue with "Top Partying Colleges" to check and see if we made the cut (we often did), and then to see if we knew any of the girls in the photo?

No alcohol policy my first 2 years.

 

[cohenzone]

Cant deal with the whole thread, but this might interest some of you. I was a student member of the university social policy committee in 1967. It was our committee, composed of students, administrators and faculty that took the first modernizing steps on campus social restrictions So you guys can thank me for some of your on campus fun.

I lived in the Towers all 4 years, they were brand new and off campus living was not a big thing. Mansfield was a dry town. Zero bars. Students went to Willi to drink and every year there students killed in drunk driving accident. Ted’s and other places in Storrs were strictly burger and such joints. The land at the Towers where the student center is now was a big vacant piece where we played softball and football and drove golf balls into the cemetery.

Females had curfews. With permission the women could be a half hour late twice a semester during the week and an hour on Friday and Sat. The Towers was the original mixed gender complex meaning there were a few dorms of women in the complex, no such thing as mixed gender dorms. While I was there, some of the West Campus dorms which were all female swapped with a few Towers dorms so there was more mixing of genders by dorm complexes. McMahon was one tower of men and one of women. You could get expelled for going up to a room of the opposite gender. Women were really treated like babies. All dorms had house mothers. There were a few RAs , but mostly not in the smaller dorms like the Towers. The men’s dorms in the Towers were kinda like fraternities without pledging or blackballing, known as social dorms and had live band parties a few Sat nights a month. Liquor flowed, the house mothers looked the other way, there were always rumors that State Police would raid the liquor parties, but to my knowledge none ever did

Our committee started making changes, but too late for me because I was a senior. Curfew rules for women were relaxed and men and women were allowed to visit opposite gender rooms during certain hours. We followed the rule most colleges were using then called the “matchbook rule” ( lots of cigarette smokers not much drug use). Which meant if a visitor of the opposite sex was in your room, the door had to be kept open at least the width of a matchbook so people could look inside. Baby steps, but it started the ball rolling. It took a few more years for Mansfield to relax the ban on bars and package stores, so places like Ted’s changed and nowadays barely resemble what they were in the 60s.

 

[krinklecut]

This was not at UConn, but I have a distinct recollection of a campus cop helping us finish a party ball before he confiscated it from our room my freshman year, and an RA lined up to take a hit from the gravity bong we had set up in the hall. I doubt those things happen today.

smoked plenty of weed with my RA in his room

 

[Guapo]

Cant deal with the whole thread, but this might interest some of you. I was a student member of the university social policy committee in 1967. It was our committee, composed of students, administrators and faculty that took the first modernizing steps on campus social restrictions So you guys can thank me for some of your on campus fun.

I lived in the Towers all 4 years, they were brand new and off campus living was not a big thing. Mansfield was a dry town. Zero bars. Students went to Willi to drink and every year there students killed in drunk driving accident. Ted’s and other places in Storrs were strictly burger and such joints. The land at the Towers where the student center is now was a big vacant piece where we played softball and football and drove golf balls into the cemetery.

Females had curfews. With permission the women could be a half hour late twice a semester during the week and an hour on Friday and Sat. The Towers was the original mixed gender complex meaning there were a few dorms of women in the complex, no such thing as mixed gender dorms. While I was there, some of the West Campus dorms which were all female swapped with a few Towers dorms so there was more mixing of genders by dorm complexes. McMahon was one tower of men and one of women. You could get expelled for going up to a room of the opposite gender. Women were really treated like babies. All dorms had house mothers. There were a few RAs , but mostly not in the smaller dorms like the Towers. The men’s dorms in the Towers were kinda like fraternities without pledging or blackballing, known as social dorms and had live band parties a few Sat nights a month. Liquor flowed, the house mothers looked the other way, there were always rumors that State Police would raid the liquor parties, but to my knowledge none ever did

Our committee started making changes, but too late for me because I was a senior. Curfew rules for women were relaxed and men and women were allowed to visit opposite gender rooms during certain hours. We followed the rule most colleges were using then called the “matchbook rule” ( lots of cigarette smokers not much drug use). Which meant if a visitor of the opposite sex was in your room, the door had to be kept open at least the width of a matchbook so people could look inside. Baby steps, but it started the ball rolling. It took a few more years for Mansfield to relax the ban on bars and package stores, so places like Ted’s changed and nowadays barely resemble what they were in the 60s.

That was super interesting! Thanks for the write up

 

[Guapo]

smoked plenty of weed with my RA in his room

my RA was regular customer of my roommate

 

[CL82]

No alcohol policy my first 2 years.

 

[uchusky32]

How you find that? It was supposed to be expunged!

 

[Kathy]

Late 70's were great - drinking age 18, package store deliveries to your room, mixed gender dorms, no restrictions on visits. Jungle, then Frats then off campus to Willington Oaks. Smoke as much weed as you wanted to. Pub in student union, food truck with grinders, the Disc (I think that was the name) record store. My GreT Aunt Dot had no clue how that $20 a week she sent me arriving every Monday for 4 years was used.

 

[Guapo]

Late 70's were great - drinking age 18, package store deliveries to your room, mixed gender dorms, no restrictions on visits. Jungle, then Frats then off campus to Willington Oaks. Smoke as much weed as you wanted to. Pub in student union, food truck with grinders, the Disc (I think that was the name) record store. My GreT Aunt Dot had no clue how that $20 a week she sent me arriving every Monday for 4 years was used.

That’s like 80 bucks/week in today’s money. Wish I had a great aunt Dot!

 

[Waquoit]

Late 70's were great - drinking age 18, package store deliveries to your room, mixed gender dorms, no restrictions on visits. Jungle, then Frats then off campus to Willington Oaks. Smoke as much weed as you wanted to. Pub in student union, food truck with grinders, the Disc (I think that was the name) record store.

Don't forget Rapp's, my favorite dump. You had to tiptoe in the bathroom because it was always under an inch of water. It was a one-holer and I was midway through a steady stream when a star FB player comes in and starts going in the sink while we had a nice chat. A couple days later, we coincidentally met up again at the tap during an off-campus kegger. "Hey, I remember you!" he says "Wanna do a doobie?" Why yes, yes I do! College!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Late 70's were great - drinking age 18, package store deliveries to your room, mixed gender dorms, no restrictions on visits. Jungle, then Frats then off campus to Willington Oaks. Smoke as much weed as you wanted to. Pub in student union, food truck with grinders, the Disc (I think that was the name) record store. My GreT Aunt Dot had no clue how that $20 a week she sent me arriving every Monday for 4 years was used.

Whether Dot knew it or not, it sounds like her money was well-invested.

 

[CL82]

That’s like 80 bucks/week in today’s money. Wish I had a great aunt Dot!

She made her money on the Internet. She’s a (Aunt) Dot com millionaire

 

[Kathy]

Don't forget Rapp's, my favorite dump. You had to tiptoe in the bathroom because it was always under an inch of water. It was a one-holer and I was midway through a steady stream when a star FB player comes in and starts going in the sink while we had a nice chat. A couple days later, we coincidentally met up again at the tap during an off-campus kegger. "Hey, I remember you!" he says "Wanna do a doobie?" Why yes, yes I do! College!

Shaboo was also a huge favorite - just made sure I was near an exit - never knew when that place might not just be filled with smoke but actually go up in smoke.

 

[Watchdog]

Cant deal with the whole thread, but this might interest some of you. I was a student member of the university social policy committee in 1967. It was our committee, composed of students, administrators and faculty that took the first modernizing steps on campus social restrictions So you guys can thank me for some of your on campus fun.

I lived in the Towers all 4 years, they were brand new and off campus living was not a big thing. Mansfield was a dry town. Zero bars. Students went to Willi to drink and every year there students killed in drunk driving accident. Ted’s and other places in Storrs were strictly burger and such joints. The land at the Towers where the student center is now was a big vacant piece where we played softball and football and drove golf balls into the cemetery.

Females had curfews. With permission the women could be a half hour late twice a semester during the week and an hour on Friday and Sat. The Towers was the original mixed gender complex meaning there were a few dorms of women in the complex, no such thing as mixed gender dorms. While I was there, some of the West Campus dorms which were all female swapped with a few Towers dorms so there was more mixing of genders by dorm complexes. McMahon was one tower of men and one of women. You could get expelled for going up to a room of the opposite gender. Women were really treated like babies. All dorms had house mothers. There were a few RAs , but mostly not in the smaller dorms like the Towers. The men’s dorms in the Towers were kinda like fraternities without pledging or blackballing, known as social dorms and had live band parties a few Sat nights a month. Liquor flowed, the house mothers looked the other way, there were always rumors that State Police would raid the liquor parties, but to my knowledge none ever did

Our committee started making changes, but too late for me because I was a senior. Curfew rules for women were relaxed and men and women were allowed to visit opposite gender rooms during certain hours. We followed the rule most colleges were using then called the “matchbook rule” ( lots of cigarette smokers not much drug use). Which meant if a visitor of the opposite sex was in your room, the door had to be kept open at least the width of a matchbook so people could look inside. Baby steps, but it started the ball rolling. It took a few more years for Mansfield to relax the ban on bars and package stores, so places like Ted’s changed and nowadays barely resemble what they were in the 60s.

Some great personal memories here. Here's a few more:
The Rock Garden in Willimantic, the Cove at Coventry Lake, and A's.
All there before the Towers, which I think opened about 1961.

You needed an ID to get in to all these bars and a few of us patriots made up "new" draft cards with the appropriate DOB and all the bars accepted them even when they should have been wondering (as if they really cared) how these people got to bars 8 to 10 miles off campus without a car (since none of us had driver's licenses as ID's). The owners were so complicit that at A's they'd put bottles of Coke in front of our dates (no draft cards for women) in case the police stopped in.

I turned 21 during Christmas break my senior year and stopped in Manchester on the way to a men's basketball game on campus to buy my first legal six pack. The clerk saw a chance to exert his power and asked to see my "majority card" and when I asked what that was I learned it was the only truly legal form of ID in CT at the time. It was issued by the state and had your photo, DOB and address on it.

So, using my best form of deductive reasoning, I showed him my driver's license with my DOB and address and my student ID with my name, signature and photo and he refused to accept them. I'd used a phony draft card with no refusal of service anywhere at anytime, for three years and now this!

 

[Watchdog]

Don't forget Rapp's, my favorite dump. You had to tiptoe in the bathroom because it was always under an inch of water. It was a one-holer and I was midway through a steady stream when a star FB player comes in and starts going in the sink while we had a nice chat. A couple days later, we coincidentally met up again at the tap during an off-campus kegger. "Hey, I remember you!" he says "Wanna do a doobie?" Why yes, yes I do! College!

There was no Rapp's in my time but I wonder if it might have originally been what we knew as A's? Off campus somewhere about 8 to 10 miles away.

They had a one holer and you truly felt you'd arrived as a college student when you used the sink to relieve yourself there...............

 

[cohenzone]

Some great personal memories here. Here's a few more:
The Rock Garden in Willimantic, the Cove at Coventry Lake, and A's.
All there before the Towers, which I think opened about 1961.

You needed an ID to get in to all these bars and a few of us patriots made up "new" draft cards with the appropriate DOB and all the bars accepted them even when they should have been wondering (as if they really cared) how these people got to bars 8 to 10 miles off campus without a car (since none of us had driver's licenses as ID's). The owners were so complicit that at A's they'd put bottles of Coke in front of our dates (no draft cards for women) in case the police stopped in.

I turned 21 during Christmas break my senior year and stopped in Manchester on the way to a men's basketball game on campus to buy my first legal six pack. The clerk saw a chance to exert his power and asked to see my "majority card" and when I asked what that was I learned it was the only truly legal form of ID in CT at the time. It was issued by the state and had your photo, DOB and address on it.

So, using my best form of deductive reasoning, I showed him my driver's license with my DOB and address and my student ID with my name, signature and photo and he refused to accept them. I'd used a phony draft card with no refusal of service anywhere at anytime, for three years and now this!

The Rock Garden actually had good food. I spent too much time there. For a year their bouncer was Willie Pep. A’s was more the hangout for Greeks. But spent my last big night out at UConn there where about 9 of us played a rousing drinking game of Thumper. Got back to Storrs somehow. I think I read that A’s burned down many years ago.

The Cove. I went there once as a freshman with a fake draft card. I had a date who was a student at U of Arkansas who was visiting her Long Island friend at UConn who was dating my friend. My date was 2 years older than I, and being a bit obnoxious about it. So I was more than glad that at the Cove I was not asked for an ID (carded as we called it) but she was. There was another watering hole out that way called Flats. I think the owners name was Flaherty.