In a matter of a single night more than 20 years ago, the college life of then-undergraduates across the country changed drastically. Starting at midnight on Dec. 1, 1985 thousands of Cornell students lost their ability to drink legally when New York State raised the legal drinking age form 19 to 21.

The law change came as a result of the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which was signed by former President Ronald Reagan in July of 1984. The law said that any state that refused to raise its legal drinking age to 21 would lose its share of federal highway funds. According to The New York Times, this would have amounted to a loss of more than $90 million for New York state between the end of 1986 and 1988.

Many senators expressed disfavor at the law, but voted for it in order to keep the highway funding.

“I’m against it, but I voted for it,” Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck) told The New York Times. “You can’t ignore millions of dollars in federal highway funds. But it’s a bad law. It breeds disrespect for the law. The youngsters will continue to drink. It’s just another law that will be ignored.”

Former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo, however, favored raising the drinking age saying it would reduce fatal traffic accidents among young drivers.

In the aftermath of this change, David “Pep” Pepin, the owner of Dunbar’s recalled, “A couple of other bars closed.”

Other bars, such as Ruloff’s, told The Sun at the time that they planned to promote their food services to make up for the lost business.

The law change also had far-reaching implications on campus.

University administrators drafted a recommendation that alcohol no longer be served at parties with a majority of underage guests, and also mandated the presence of a “trained event coordinator” sponsored by the organization throwing the party.

In addition, the Department of University Health Services held a 10-week program meant to educate students about responsible drinking.

Greek life was also altered by the new law.

The assistant dean of students for fraternities and sororities at the time, Janiece Bacon Oblak, said, “Big open parties, the way they have occurred, won’t happen anymore.”

While Oblak’s prediction proved false, there is little question that the law change has had lasting effects.

“If you’re 19 or 20 and you want a beer, you’ll get it, and everyone knows you’ll get it,” Pepin said. “It’s an impractical rule.”

He added that drinking has become more dangerous now that students are drinking in situations where “no one is watching, and no one is there to shut them off.”

For this reason, Pepin thinks Cornell President David Skorton should have backed the Amethyst Initiative, which was created by a former Middlebury College president, John McCardell, and consisted of 135 presidents and chancellors who agreed to “call upon elected officials to weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies.”

Last fall, Skorton declined to sign on to the cause telling The Sun, “‘If you look carefully at the social science data, one change that was made that made a difference in saving lives was having the minimal drinking age raised to 21. There is no doubt that that saved lives in terms of automobile accidents and deaths.’”