Benjamin Engle
130 college and university presidents, including those of Colgate, Hamilton, Dartmouth, Duke, and Tufts, have come together to sign a petition to open up a national debate to rethink the drinking age and possibly change it from 21 to 18.
In July of 2008, John McCardell, President Emeritus of Middlebury College, established the Amethyst Initiative after consulting with numerous college and university presidents and hearing that the current drinking age is routinely ignored on their campuses.
The group believes that since it is illegal for most students to drink on campus, a “culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge-drinking’…has developed.” The petition also states that the current drinking age is hypocritical since adults under 21 are permitted to vote, sign contracts, enlist in the military, but are not allowed to consume alcohol.
The law that the group wants changed is the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Passed by Congress in 1984, the law imposed a penalty of 10% of a state’s federal highway money for any state that had a drinking age below 21. With millions of dollars at stake, all states obliged and increased their drinking age.
While 130 presidents have signed the Amethyst Initiative petition, President Ainlay has not.
“I disagree with this cynical view of the petition and its signers,” President Ainlay said, “I know many of them and know they are genuinely concerned with excessive abuse of alcohol on their campuses and they believe there is a need for more discussion about what needs to be done to address it.”
Even though he hasn’t signed the petition, President Ainlay, has been following the debate closely, “This is an issue of concern for me as President at Union. In fact, I was asked to address a national conference in Boston as part of a presidential panel. As I told the audience, I believe that there needs to be a national discourse on the problem of substance abuse and its consequences.”
While Dean Steve Leavitt disagrees with the premises of the initiative, he believes that the current drinking age puts the college in an awkward position, “We must follow the law, but we know students drink on campus illegally. If the drinking age was 18, it would make my life easier.”
His main concern, however, is binge drinking. “Binge drinking is bigger than the drinking age,” Dean Leavitt said. “Drinking fast in a room wouldn’t go away if students could legally drink.”
According to Leavitt, in a large-scale college survey done every spring regarding binge drinking, Union is ranked worse than other schools. He believes that while the culture varies from region to region, it makes sense that Union is ranked poorly, “The combination of being in the Northeast region of the United States, having a campus dominated by Greek life, and having a competitive sports program makes it not surprising that Union is higher than average in terms of alcohol.”
The Interfraternity Council, which is made up of nine fraternities at Union, is in favor of the Amethyst Initiative. “We base this position on the belief that from an educational standpoint, an 18 year old should have the opportunity to discuss drinking issues openly without fear of any repercussions,” said Brandon Botto, President of the Interfraternity Council.
Botto added, “Within the current college community, the 21 age limit has not hindered drinking dramatically enough to outweigh the apparent benefits of an 18 year old drinking age. In all, developmental aspects of student life would greatly benefit from this discussion.”
Despite the call for a lower drinking age, many believe it wont change the culture of drinking, “People would still binge to get to a place that makes them happy,” said Director of Residential Life Molly MacElroy. “Nothing would change at the frats because students know that they can’t get enough alcohol there to get drunk.”
Campus Safety, which deals with alcohol-related incidents often on campus, has invested in additional staff to address problem drinking and is collecting data to provide answers to the issue. Director of Safety and Security William Sickinger, who opposes lowering the drinking age to 18, agrees with the Amethyst Initiative’s call for discussion on how to deal with the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people.
Sickinger believes that the point system is effective since it helps the college focus on drinking issues, “The point system at Union is a step that at least gets a student thinking about the issue of possible consequences of inappropriate behavior.”
While disciplining students and giving out points is an unpleasant part of her job, it is a learning experience for students, “College is a place to learn how to manage alcohol,” MacElroy said. “Our goal is to help students if they choose to use alcohol.”
While President Ainlay has not signed the Amethyst Initiative’s petition, he is currently asking for recommendations and thoughts from the administration, “Our campuses need to discuss it, colleges and universities and their host cities need to discuss it, and there needs to be more discussion on a variety of strategies at national meetings of educators.”
Originally published in Union's Concordy on October 9, 2008.
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