2008 Woodie Awards
College presidents: Lower drinking age
Issue date: 8/19/08 Section: News
College presidents at many top universities around the nation are asking lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, according to a wire services report.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that about 100 college leaders, from schools such as Duke, Ohio State and Syracuse, say drinking laws encourage binge drinking on campuses.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age. University President Michael Adams was not one of the presidents calling for the change in the law.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization told the AP. "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 Dartmouth, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
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.
"It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses," said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that about 100 college leaders, from schools such as Duke, Ohio State and Syracuse, say drinking laws encourage binge drinking on campuses.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age. University President Michael Adams was not one of the presidents calling for the change in the law.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization told the AP. "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 Dartmouth, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
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.
"It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses," said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 8
CoastalDawg
posted 8/19/08 @ 11:00 AM EST
How absurd and ridiculous to even consider lowering the drinking age back to eighteen. All one has to do is look at statistics, even right in Athens, to know that eighteen year olds for the most part do not have the maturity to drink responsibly. (Continued…)
susan
posted 8/19/08 @ 11:24 AM EST
finally some one is making some sense!! And college presidents no less---Micheal Adams please get behind this!
Everyone one is afraid to jump on this band wagon--because it is not politically correct. (Continued…)
Jordan
posted 8/19/08 @ 6:44 PM EST
The immediate effects of lowering the drinking age to 18 would be quite devastating; there would be an immense surge of binge drinking nation wide...for a day or two. (Continued…)
James
posted 8/19/08 @ 11:49 PM EST
This just shows that the inmates (college administrators) are running the asylum! Why don't we have bars on campus also?
This is quite incomprehensible but nothing coming out of academia surprises me anymore . (Continued…)
Hellie
posted 8/19/08 @ 11:50 PM EST
Laura Dean-Mooney, national President of MADD, say's that those college presidents in the Amethyst initiative "are not enforcing the drinking age," on their campuses! Wow! How did she know that? Perhaps its the same way she "knew" and MADD knew, that their best chance at a new "Prohibition," was to start with adults between the ages of 18 and 20. (Continued…)
I'm not MADD
posted 8/20/08 @ 8:43 AM EST
Until MADD can show me that European and Australian kids are having worse problems than we are on account of their drinking age, I'll continue to think that they're a bunch of loons. (Continued…)
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