SMWC president says leave it at 21
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By Chanel Reeder
Editor-in-chief
It's a Friday night on a college campus, which means it's time for students to kick back and relax after a long week of classes. Many students will venture out to a party and enjoy rounds of beer pong, quarters, flip cup and numerous other drinking games. A few beer bongs and a couple of keg stands later, the college students are well on their way to a drinking binge for the night.
According to a group of college and university presidents, the drinking age of 21 is no longer working, and instead, is encouraging dangerous behavior and binge drinking. The group, called the Amethyst Initiative, is led by the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell. The initiative is calling for a national debate of the current drinking age.
Twenty four years ago, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which changed the drinking age from 18 to 21. The act imposed a ten percent penalty on a state's federal highway appropriation, if the state set their drinking age lower than 21.
At this time, more than 120 college presidents and chancellors have signed the petition. Among the signatures on the Amethyst Initiative are those of Duke, Johns Hopkins, Ohio, Dartmouth, and Maryland, just to name a few.
However, the sentiment is different on the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. "I did not sign the Amethyst Agreement," said David G. Behrs, president. "I do support further education and further dialogue about the drinking age, but at this point in time, I concur with about 2,800 other presidents who did not sign to the 100 plus that did."
Behrs did not sign the document because he does not feel that lowering the drinking age is going to reduce alcoholism or binge drinking. "In fact, I think that it would encourage it," he said. "I think that all the work of organizations such as the American Medical Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students Against Drunk Driving - all of their hard work would be negated."
MADD National President, Laura Dean-Mooney, commented on the subject in a recent press release. "Underage and binge drinking is a tough problem and we welcome an honest discussion about how to address this challenge but that discussion must honor the science behind the 21 law which unequivocally shows that the 21 law has reduced drunk driving and underage and binge drinking." Mooney went on to say that she personally found it to be "deeply disappointing" that many educational leaders would support the initiative.
Ronald Davis, the Immediate Past President of the AMA, said that if the drinking age is lowered, then the age of those who have easy access to alcohol is lowered, and thus shifts responsibility to high school educators. Also, Davis went on to mention that young adults experience significant brain development in the areas responsible for learning, memory, complex thinking, planning, inhibition, and emotional regulation during this time period. "The science simply does not support lowering the drinking age," he said.
According to statistics available at www.MADD.org, research shows that 30 percent of college students abuse alcohol and six percent are dependent on alcohol. It is also noted that binge drinking is statistically worse among college age students compared to those not in college.
Behrs agreed. "The biggest thing with alcohol is everything in moderation," he said. "I think that alcohol is a very powerful drug. There are many people that have a predisposition to alcoholism, and it's something that the families, students, and certainly anybody from 18 to 21 years of age needs to understand the family medical history."
Not all college presidents in the Terre Haute area have such a strong viewpoint as Behrs. In the August 22, 2008 Tribune-Star article, Indiana State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology presidents weighed in on the Amethyst Initiative.
"I understand the arguments being offered on both sides of the issue," said Rose-Hulman President Gerald Jakubowski. "However, at the present time, I do not have a position on what is the appropriate, legal drinking age, and I will need to listen to the debates and weigh the pros and cons before forming an opinion. Therefore, I have not signed the initiative."
ISU's president, Daniel Bradley, had a similar viewpoint. "I do not have a position on the subject of what an appropriate legal drinking age should be," Bradley said. "However, like all matters of public policy, I believe it is healthy to debate the issues from time to time."
Even though SMWC is a dry campus, concern still lies with student drinking activity off campus. On any given weekend, one has no problem finding a party where alcohol is being served at other campuses or at fraternity parties.
"I do worry about it, but I don't think we have an issue here at the Woods," said Behrs. "What we can do as a campus community is to promote responsible civic behavior, and if they do lower the drinking age to 18 at some point, hopefully we will provide that kind of education, that kind of backdrop where our students would be responsible drinkers and not get into the whole binge drinking issue."
While Behrs believes that the SMWC campus is ok, he is concerned that as enrollment grows, drinking could begin to be an issue for the College.
Other thoughts about drinking age
According to a Sept. 24 article in the Washington Post titled "Lower Drinking Age Opposed by Experts," little data are available in the U.S. on such things as increase in fatal car crashes due to lowering the drinking age. Instead of changing the drinking age, some say what is needed is a change in the way people think. The article quoted Vivian Faden, deputy director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, who said: "We have to stop thinking of underage drinking as a rite of passage."Is it a problem at SMWC? With studies showing binge drinking as a widespread problem for college students, is that true at SMWC? Send your thoughts to the editor at creeder@smwc.edu.
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