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College presidents seek discussion of the legal drinking age |
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Written by cougster1
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
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At 18 people are considered adults in eyes of the law in almost all cases. It is often said if you can fight and die for your country why can’t you have a beer…well legally at least. Now about 100 college presidents want to examine changing the legal drinking age to 18. They are part of the Amethyst Initiative.
Here is an AP story and then comments from WSU President Elson Floyd:
College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."
Other prominent schools in the group include Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
But even before the presidents begin the public phase of their efforts, which may include publishing newspaper ads in the coming weeks, they are already facing sharp criticism.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.
Rest of the article here
From KNDO/KNDU:
"I think that lowering the drinking age down to 18 won't solve the problem, in fact i think it would expedite the problem," said President Mark Emmert, University of Washington.
Emmert says there is no evidence that binge drinking increased when state drinking laws rose from 18 to 21.
"There's issues of young people getting fake ID's and the like to pretend they're 21 instead of 18. If you make the drinking law 18 then you'll have 16 year old pretending that they're 18," said Emmert.
Elson Floyd, President of Washington State University, also does not see reducing the drinking age as a problem solver.
"The real solution is going to require not only the engagement of colleges and universities but high schools and parents and just simply changing the behavior," said Floyd.
Floyd says more and more students are coming to college with drinking experience.
"We have a growing number of students who participate in what's referred to as binge drinking that is having five or more drinks in a single setting," said Floyd.
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