Even if it did, minors wouldn't have much chance of getting one. The agency promised Harvard two years that it would demand proof of age from all its patrons. Although HSA has been lax, no underage student will be drinking English ale, French champagne, Spanish sangaria and German bier on an international i.d. "Over the summer we had some problems with it because we didn't really know the policy," she says, "But ever since school started, we've been really strict about checking the birth date."
Big brothers are key
But Harvard students weren't born yesterday, though the law might treat them that way, and many under-age students gain two or three years with the flash of card.
Warren, a Holworthy resident, has an i.d. from a Montreal acupuncture school, which he got from a one-time student of the school. Warren installed his own mug shot in place of its former owner's and assumed the donor's name and 1962 birth date. Dr. Warren has managed to buy liquor from even the usually suspicious liquor store owners.
Wigglesworth resident Justin says, "Big brothers are key," showing his older brother's picture driver's license. And Rachel from Canaday has her older sister's Hampshire College i.d. "The picture doesn't really resemble me," she says, adding, "but it doesn't really resemble my sister either."
Other Avenues
Lena, a Hurlbur resident, discreetly whited-out the year of birth on her passport, replacing the seven in the date with a four. No one, Lena claims, has ever questioned the validity of her passport.
Some entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the fakes legitimate i.d.'s--driver's licenses, for example--by cutting them open with an exacto knife and tampering with the numbers.
Nicole refuses to disclose the technical details, saying only, "I'm an artist and I used to do it with oil paint."
"People still come to me and ask me to do it, but I tell them no," she continues, "My dad's a lawyer, and when he found out I did it, he was really mad. I mean, I could get arrested--it is a felony."
The names of some of the students quoted in this article have been changed.