Nearly 130 chancellors and presidents across the nation, including two from Wisconsin, have joined a new campaign geared toward re-examining the current 21-year-old drinking age.
The initiative, launched in July by John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College and founder of the non-profit organization Choose Responsibility, contains signatures from college and university leaders throughout the nation, including Dartmouth College, Duke University, Tufts University and The Ohio State University.
“Underage drinking is a problem on almost every campus throughout the nation,” said Cody Pinkston, spokesperson for Ripon College, whose president signed on with initiative. “There is a disparity between the age at which you can make virtually any other decision and the age at which you are trusted by society to make responsible decisions about alcohol. We want to try to resolve that disparity in some way, but we don’t necessarily know what that is yet.”
According to Grace Kronenberg, assistant to the director for Choose Responsibility, the initiative does not ask for a particular policy change in favor of lowering or raising the drinking age, it simply opens a debate to curb issues like underage binge drinking associated with the current legal drinking age.
“Those who sign the initiative support the statement that 21 is not working,” Kronenberg said. “The statement only calls for reconsideration and change.”
In addition to Ripon College President David Joyce, former UW-Parkside Chancellor Jack Keating was the only other educational leader from Wisconsin to participate in the initiative as of press time.
UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said no Madison official signed the initiative due to a leadership transition period between former Chancellor John Wiley and new Chancellor Biddy Martin.
“We did receive information about the initiative, but this is not an appropriate time to make the decision,” Lucas said. “I know that [Martin] is interested in this idea, and she has not ruled it out. But in terms of timing, we are not there yet.”
According to Susan Crowley, director for prevention services at University Health Services, the 2008 College Alcohol Survey revealed 67 percent of UW student participants consider themselves binge drinkers, while on average only 44 percent of students across the nation said they are binge drinkers.
“From a health perspective, alcohol abuse is a significant issue on this campus. It impacts not only the health of our students, but also the health of the community,” Crowley said. “The Amethyst Initiative prompts a really important discussion about not only the drinking age, but how we encourage more responsible drinking among college students.”
While the initiative achieved significant support from many college and university leaders across the nation, some leaders have met it with opposition, including University of Miami President and former UW-Madison Chancellor Donna Shalala.
“I am opposed to [the initiative] because I think young people will die,” Shalala said. “We have 1,000 less deaths and injuries per year because the drinking age is now 21. We worked hard on the issue while we were in Madison. If I can save one life by taking this position, I am happy to do it.”
Keating was not available for comment as of press time.
Other big-name signatories: Johns Hopkins University, Syracuse University, University of Massachusetts, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Signatures as of Aug 28: 129.
