College Presidents join to lower drinking age
Launched in July, 2008, the Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of many universities and colleges across the United States. These administrators are working with legislators to take a closer look into the drinking age problem. Staff photo
February 10, 2009 • Andy Archer
Megan Manion
Filed under Features
Last year, 392 more University of Oregon students received alcohol related minor in possession (MIP) citations for violating the university alcohol code than in 2004. This was roughly 122 more MIPs, a 344 percent spike.
“There are those who drink and if you want to find a party you can, just like in high school. The difference is [alcohol is] more readily available because of the concentration of over-21 year old students and because they intermingle so much with those who are not legal,” said University of Oregon freshman Camille Grater.
During the process of entering the college atmosphere, Grater chose to enter the Greek system.
Because many of Grater’s sisters at Alpha Chi Omega are 21 or older, alcohol is prevalent in her position.
At age 18, United States citizens may vote, join the military, and even serve on a jury.
Eighteen-year-olds are also allowed to purchase tobacco products such as cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
However, an 18-year-old in the United States is not allowed to purchase or consume alcohol, despite being considered a legal adult citizen.
In Oregon, approximately 20 percent of alcohol is sold to minors, according to House Bill 864, also known as the STOP Underage Drinking Act of December 2006.
Oregon spends moe than 33 million dollars, in both federal and state funds, on underage drinking enforcement.
University presidents M. Lee Pelton of Willamette University, Thomas J. Hochstettler of Lewis and Clark College and Dr. Philip Creighton of Pacific University recently joined the Amethyst Initiative to lower the legal drinking age to 18.
Middlebury College professor and former president John McCardell agrees. He considers the current law to encourage immature behavior.
The Amethyst Initiative, made up of presidents and chancellors of colleges and universities across the United States, believes that binge-drinking rates on campuses have reached dangerously high numbers despite the legal drinking age being set at 21.
The Initiative, acknowledges that current legal restrictions on drinking have failed the American public and need to be revised.
Launched in July, 2008, the Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of many universities and colleges across the United States. These administrators are working with legislators to take a closer look into the drinking age problem.
Amethyst Initiative presidents and chancellors call upon elected officials to weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies and to invite new ideas on how best to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol use.
These higher education leaders have signed their names to a public statement that the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people continues despite the minimum legal drinking age of 21, and there is a culture of dangerous binge drinking on many campuses. The argument on the drinking age is gaining momentum as a more publicized issue.
Ruth C. Engs, a professor of applied health sciences at Indiana University, believes the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or 19.
“Right now, underage drinking takes place “underground”, with no one to supervise past the “designated driver”, if there even is one,” said Engs.
“The 21-year old drinking age has not reduced drinking on (college) campuses; it has probably increased it,” said Middlebury college president John McCardell.
Approximately two of every five 18-24 year-old college students are binge drinkers. More than two million 18-24 year-old college students also drive drunk every year.
“I believe that the drinking age should stay where it is at 21. I also believe that the driving age should be 21, as well, because there are a lot of teen driving accidents due to underage drinking,” said Spanish teacher Katherine Winning.
Many people would ask the question; why can countries such as England have a younger drinking age and the United States cannot?
Children in England over five years old they are allowed to drink at home. Children between the ages of five and 18 may also drink on licensed premises such as bars and restaurants before 9 p.m. if they are accompanied by an adult of 28 years or older.
After an English citizen turns 18, he is allowed to drink as he pleases.
In the United States during 2004, 4,767 teens aged 16-19 died of motor vehicle crashes with many of these accidents related to alcohol.
A year later in 2005, a National Traffic survey reported that 7,640 teens between the ages of 15 and 20 died in motor vehicle accidents, with many linked to alcohol; 2,873 more teen deaths in just one year.
“When you are younger, the right decisions will be even harder to make,” said math teacher Kathie Quick.
Doctors agree that the pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for reasoning and cognitive ability, takes the longest to mature, usually finishing development the mid-twenties
”I feel that the drinking age in the United States should be lowered to 18 because it would put less pressure on high school students to participate in binge drinking. For example, in other countries there is less of a problem with underage drinking because it is socially acceptable in their culture,” said Josh Speidel, a 19-year-old former Summit student who now attends Brooks Institute of Photography says,
The United States is the only country in the world with a 21-year-old drinking age.
The U.S drinking age was not always at 21.
In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Purchase Age Act to encourage each state to enact a minimum legal purchase age of 21 by 1986.
The result of this act was impressive; an estimated 1,071 lives were saved in 1987 alone.
Between 1975 and 1996, there was a 63 percent decline in alcohol-related crash fatalities among young drivers.
“It seems logical to lower the legal drinking age to 18 when most other countries have [the minimum drinking age] as16 or 18. When people are living on their own, they should be able to make their own choices about alcohol consumption,” said English teacher Beth Sandefur.
“…At 18, citizens of the United States are considered adults in every other way. Consistency is important,” said librarian Eila Overcash.
Consistency is not the only argument affirming lowering the minimum drinking age. Students consider lowering the drinking age to be affirming their rights.
“I think it should be [lowered] because it should people when people are 18 they are adults,” said junior Amanda Mattei.
For many students, drinking is the privilege of an adult. A number of students and teachers ask why 18 year olds are considered adults in public and private life, but barred from consuming alcohol.
”I think that it is a smart idea for the drinking age to be 21. People aren’t mature enough at age18 to take on the responsibility of drinking,” said senior Micah King.
“If you can get married at 18, you should be able to drink at your wedding,” said junior Sierra Sullivan.
A study of New York college students documented that students who began to drink at younger ages were more likely to drink heavily in college. They were also more likely to report alcohol-related problems such as trouble at work, trouble with friends, family, and police.
”I can understand the motivation to keep the drinking age higher, because a lot of kids don’t understand the responsibility that comes along with alcohol use, but I still believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. If I am expected to take on the duties of an adult citizen, like voting and serving on a jury, I should also be considered mature enough to make decisions concerning alcohol,” sais Meg Archer, a former Summit High School student who now attends Cal Poly.
On Sept. 6, 2007, newly elected Vice President Joe Biden was asked, “Would you as president remove the requirement that a state have a legal drinking age of 21 in order to receive federal highway funds, thereby returning the drinking age back to the states?”
”Absolutely not. The costs of alcoholism in America, the costs of accidents that flow from drunkenness, are astronomical,” said Biden. Barack Obama agreed with Biden on this issue during the same debate.
The Associated Press recently analyzed federal records and determined 157 college age individuals drank themselves to death from 1999 to 2005.
“Statistically, we need to keep [the minimum drinking age] the way it is. You cannot argue with the statistics that drunk driving went down,” said history teacher Patrick Kilty.
MADD concurs, asserting that traffic fatalities in states with an open container law decrease by 5.1 percent.
The National Traffic Highway Administration estimates that the 21 minimum age drinking laws have saved 900 lives per year.
Choose Responsibility, an organization dedicated to giving legal adults freedom of choice thus allowing them to exhibit the skill of integrity and control that America expects from them, slightly disagrees.
Saved lives results from “a series of changes that have combined to make driving under the influence the target of social disapproval in the United States,” said Choose Responsibility representatives.
This is a very important decision. The question on whether or not the drinking age should be lowered is gaining adequate momentum and is rapidly becoming a much larger issue in the United States. Let the discussion begin.
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