College presidents and students agree that the required age of 21 is pushing underage drinkers to binge-drink more often.
Binge drinking is considered having five drinks in one sitting. In an unscientific survey of 15 students from Stonehill College, over two thirds said that according to this rule, they would be considered binge drinkers.
“I’ll drink in my room, but I don’t want to go outside with anything (alcohol) because of how strict the rules are here,” said one student.
Many students share this sentiment. Students, afraid of getting caught drinking, stay in their rooms and drink before going out for the night.
Brittany Tartara is one of the students who think some college campuses have too severe drinking policies.
“So many kids will drink in their rooms instead of going out. If schools just let us go out and we didn’t have to worry about getting into trouble, we’d be able to drink socially, instead of worrying about whether or not an RA would ask to see what’s in our backpacks,” Tartara said.
Eric Scholl, a sophomore hockey player from Stonehill College, said he believes that drinking is going underground.
“I think the schools made it worse off, they can’t control everyone, they don’t know if some kid is getting hammered while he’s sitting down in his dorm room. I think kids defiantly drink more hard alcohol than beer, too. Nobody wants to carry a 30 rack around with them in a backpack,” Scholl said.
The national drinking age has made news since 1984, when Congress threatened to withhold 10 percent of highways funds to any state that did not raise the age to 21. Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) say that the higher drinking age saves lives. Conversely, a survey done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says that 95 percent of people who drink first began to drink before they turn 21.
More than 100 college presidents from schools such as Duke University, Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Ohio State, and Dartmouth want the drinking age dropped from 21 to 18. The movement is called the Amethyst Initiative, aimed at bringing light to a 24-year old debate.
Duke President Richard Brodhead gave a public statement about his thoughts.
“We do not simply advocate lowering the drinking age as a solution to a very serious problem. Rather, we want to encourage an honest and constructive dialogue among educators, lawmakers, parents and students” Brodhead said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) disagree with the Amethyst Initiative. While college presidents say that the national drinking age of 21 encourages binge-drinking, a dangerous behavior for young people, MADD suggests that the higher drinking age has saved thousands of lives.
David Diolis is a Massachusetts Representative of MADD.
“I think anyone who tries to lower the drinking age is making a bad public policy, we’ve tried it and it’s failed. We don’t encourage underage drinkers to not drive, we say don’t drink, for health reasons, and it’s illegal. Since 1984 thousands of lives have been saved from alcohol related deaths like car accidents and drowning, and falls,” Diolis said.
On Stonehill College’s campus, students who are transported for alcohol poisoning or students who are found throwing up do not get in trouble with the school, however students caught with a single beer can are usually “written up” and charged with a first offense: community service, a fine, and are banned from campus for a single weekend.
Several students asked to remain anonymous, in fear of getting in trouble with the school.
“That rule means I can drink as much as I want, and if I get caught by an RA, I should just throw up and I won’t get into trouble,” one student said.
THE CURRENT LIST OF SIGNATUES ON THE AMETHYST INITIATIVE:
President Vincent Maniaci, American International College
President Jerry M. Greiner, Arcadia University
President Ronald Slepitza, Avila University
President Elizabeth Coleman, Bennington College
President Scott D. Miller, Bethany College
President Bobby Fong, Butler University
President David Wolk, Castleton State College
President Mark J. Tierno, Cazenovia College
President Carmen Twillie Ambar, Cedar Crest College
President Esther L. Barazzone, Chatham University
Interim President Frank G. Pogue, Chicago State University
President John Bassett, Clark University
President Anthony G. Collins, Clarkson University
President James R. Phifer, Coe College
President Rebecca S. Chopp, Colgate University
President Robert Hoover, College of Idaho
President Mary Pat Seurkamp, College of Notre Dame of Maryland
President Frank Miglorie, College of St. Joseph
President Richard F. Celeste, Colorado College
President Dennison W. Griffith, Columbus College of Art & Design
President James E. Wright, Dartmouth College
President G.T. Smith, Davis and Elkins College
President Brian W. Casey, DePauw University
President William G. Durden, Dickinson College
President Joseph R. Fink, Dominican University of California
President Robert Weisbuch, Drew University
President Richard Brodhead, Duke University
President Donald R. Eastman III, Eckerd College
President Theodore Long, Elizabethtown College
President Thomas Meier, Elmira College
President Jacqueline Liebergott, Emerson College
President Richard E. Wylie, Endicott College
President Jeffrey Von Arx, Fairfield University
President Judith L. Kuipers, Fielding Institute
President Janet Morgan Riggs, Gettysburg College
President Mark Scheinberg, Goodwin College
President Sanford J. Ungar, Goucher College
President Jack Ohle, Gustavus Adolphus College
President Joan Hinde Stewart, Hamilton College
President Walter M. Bortz, Hampden-Sydney College
President Ralph J. Hexter, Hampshire College
President Susan DeWine, Hanover College
President Nancy O. Gray, Hollins University
President Richard Gilman, C.S.C., Holy Cross College
President William Brody, Johns Hopkins University
President John J. Bowen, Johnson & Wales University
President Barbara Murphy, Johnson State College
Chancellor Leon Richards, Kapiolani Community College
President S. Georgia Nugent, Kenyon College
President Rev. Thomas J. O'Hara, King's College
President Daniel H. Weiss, Lafayette College
President Stephen D. Schutt, Lake Forest College
President Thomas J. Hochstettler, Lewis & Clark College
President James E. Collins, Loras College
President Carol Moore, Lyndon State College
President Leonard Tyler, Maine Maritime Academy
President Thomas J. Scanlan, F.S.C., Manhattan College
President Richard Berman, Manhattanville College
President Ghazi Darkazalli, Marian Court College
President Tim Foster, Mesa State College
President Stephen M. Jordan, Metropolitan State College of Denver
President Ronald Liebowitz, Middlebury College
President Frances Lucas, Millsaps College
President Mary Ellen Jukoski, Mitchell College
President Susan Cole, Montclair State University
President Christopher Thomforde, Moravian College
President John Reynders, Morningside College
President Joanne V. Creighton, Mount Holyoke College
President Peyton R. Helm, Muhlenberg College
President Randy Dunn, Murray State University
President Thomas B. Coburn, Naropa University
President Fran Voigt, New England Culinary Institute
President Debra Townsley, Nichols College
President Robert A. Skotheim, Occidental College
President Lawrence Schall, Oglethorpe University
President E. Gordon Gee, Ohio State University
President Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, Oregon College of Art & Craft
President Loren J. Anderson, Pacific Lutheran University
President Phil Creighton, Pacific University
President John Mills, Paul Smith's College
President David W. Oxtoby, Pomona College
President Robert A. Gervasi, Quincy University
President Robert R. Lindgren, Randolph-Macon College
President William E. Troutt, Rhodes College
President David C. Joyce, Ripon College
President Gregory Dell'Omo, Robert Morris University
President Charles R. Middleton, Roosevelt University
President Eric R. Gilbertson, Saginaw Valley State University
President Timothy R. Lannon, Saint Joseph's University (PA)
President Arthur F. Kirk, Saint Leo University
President Patricia Maguire Meservey, Salem State College
President Paul L. Locatelli, S.J., Santa Clara University
President Joel L. Cunningham, Sewanee: University of the South
President Carol T. Christ, Smith College
President Paul LeBlanc, Southern New Hampshire University
President Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman College
President Robert E. Ritschel, Spoon River College
President Pamela Trotman Reid, St. Joseph College
President Daniel F. Sullivan, St. Lawrence University
President Harold J. Raveche, Stevens Institute of Technology
President Thomas Schwarz, SUNY College at Purchase
President L. Jay Lemons, Susquehanna University
President Elisabeth S. Muhlenfeld, Sweet Briar College
Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Syracuse University
President J. Patrick O'Brien, Texas A&M University—West Texas
President Robert Caret, Towson University
President James F. Jones Jr., Trinity College
President John M. Stamm, Trinity Lutheran College
President Lawrence S. Bacow, Tufts University
President Thomas P. Rosandich, United States Sports Academy
Chancellor Robert C. Holub, University of Massachusetts—Amherst
Chancellor John P. Keating, University of Wisconsin—Parkside
President Walter Harrison, University of Hartford
President Jennifer Hunter-Cevera, University of Maryland—Biotechnology Institute
President C.D. Mote Jr., University of Maryland—College Park
President Jack M. Wilson, University of Massachusetts
President George M. Dennison, University of Montana—Missoula
President Steven H. Kaplan, University of New Haven
President Louis J. Agnese Jr., University of the Incarnate Word
Chancellor William E. Kirwan, University System of Maryland
President Geoffrey Shields, Vermont Law School
Chancellor Robert Clarke, Vermont State Colleges
President Ty J. Handy, Vermont Technical College
President Cleveland L. Sellers Jr., Voorhees College
President William E. Hamm, Wartburg College
President Tori Haring-Smith, Washington & Jefferson College
President Kenneth P. Ruscio, Washington & Lee University
President L. Baird Tipson, Washington College
President Michael Bassis, Westminster College of Salt Lake City
President Ronald A. Crutcher, Wheaton College (MA)
President Sharon D. Herzberger, Whittier College
President James T. Harris, Widener University
President M. Lee Pelton, Willamette University
President Lorna Duphiney Edmundson, Wilson College
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