by Deborah Straszheim

About the author: Deborah Straszheim is a reporter for the Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press.

It used to be no big deal. Associate Professor Donald Baxter would invite students to his house to talk politics and have cokes, soda, or beer.

That was before the drinking age was 21. He knows that back then, bad things sometimes happened on college campuses, just like they do today. But it’s hard to remember much bad at the College of William and Mary. “It almost seemed a healthier situation,” said Baxter.

[In 1998] he went to a campus social event that had separate areas for the 21 and under 21 crowd. It was, Baxter says, strange.

“The adults could go in this room, and the children, the students, could go in this other...