You must have gone to college at a time when some states still had lower drinking ages, before the federal government forced all states to set it to twenty-one. Otherwise I can’t imagine an officially sanctioned “cocktail party” for students, since most undergraduates are under age. In California, where the drinking age has always been twenty-one, or at least since Repeal, it wasn’t difficult for us to score brews or booze in my college days, and beer was openly served at ticketed parties and dances. But an actual “cocktail party” would be unheard of.