Universities fight to change drinking laws

By: Michelle Firestone

Posted: 9/2/08

Presidents from 129 universities, including six in Connecticut (but not including UConn), are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying that current laws encourage binge drinking on college campuses.

Presidents from Trinity College, the University of Hartford, St. Joseph's College, Mitchell College, Fairfield University and the University of New Haven are among 129 supporters of the Amethyst Initiative, a movement designed to stir up debate about the "National Minimum Drinking Age Act" passed in 1984. According to the initiative's official website, this law penalized any state with a drinking age lower than 21 by reducing that state's federal highway appropriation by 10 percent.

The Amethyst Initiative statement suggests a debate about whether or not the 1984 law was counterproductive, but doesn't explicitly call for a lower drinking age.

James Jones, Jr., president of Trinity College and one of the signatories of the initiative, said supporters are not in favor of promoting drinking at college, but feel there may be a better solution.

"If people believe a law will keep kids from drinking, they are living in an alternate universe," said Jones.

Binge drinking, which has been a problem on college campuses for many years, has been a ubiquitous, but secretive activity for college students, most of whom are too young to buy the alcohol themselves and thus get older students to buy it for them or acquire fake ID's. Amethyst supporters feel that drinking would no longer be surreptitious if the legal drinking age were 18 rather than 21.

"To bring it out of this clandestine world would be a big help," said Jones.

Jones feels that because 18 year-olds have the prerogative to vote and enlist in the military, they should also have the right to legally drink. According to him, there is an illogical disconnect.

"There's something fundamentally askew if you can vote but aren't considered adult enough to buy a beer," said Jones.

Lisa Troyer, Senior Associate to President Hogan and Chief of Staff, said that although this is a compelling argument, it is a different issue than the one raised by the initiative.

According to Troyer, UConn's administration doesn't support the initiative because there isn't enough evidence that a lower drinking age is the best solution to the problem. Some believe that the law could make college drinking even more rampant. President Michael Hogan and the rest of the administration want to look into a range of solutions.

"Rather than settling on a solution, we think it's important to have the dialogue first," said Troyer. "Going to a solution where we know the evidence is questionable is really a huge mistake."

The initiative's goals are extremely controversial, raising concerns from groups such as MADD who feel that the lower drinking age will encourage binge drinking on college campuses, rather than helping the problem.

The Amethyst Initiative was launched in July 2008. Amethyst is symbolic of the Initiative's goals, as the gemstone was widely believed to be antidote to the negative effects of intoxication.