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OSU, other college presidents back drinking-age debate
Monday, August 18, 2008
BY ENCARNACION PYLE AND BILL BUSH
From a political-correctness point of view, it probably would have been safer not to sign a petition challenging the drinking age.
But the presidents of Ohio State University, Columbus College of Art & Design and Kenyon College have joined leaders of about 100 other schools nationwide in saying that current laws actually encourage binge drinking on campus.
They want legislators to reconsider the law.
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Columbus colleges bring back drinking-age debate
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haven’t really given this much thought at all, but the eternal partier in me’s first gut response is “NICE!”
:)
I drank far more often when I was underage than when I turned 21. Why? Rebellion, I guess. It was fun breaking the rules. But once it was legal, the novelty wore off.
I’d agree with them. Not like anything is really going to change, but if the age is lowered I think the rate of young binge drinking would drop.
Okay i have two basic categories of people that i’ve always felt the drinking age law should be lowered for: Military Servicepeople and business owners. It seems just a tinkle unfair if you’re in the military that you can be cleared to carry a firearm, lead folks into battle, possibly get your grape crushed and NOT be able to grab a drink at your “Welcome Home” party !?!
As for business owners, this is light-hearted but still illuminative — If a young prodigy makes their first million before 21, theoretically they could own a club that they could not drink in !?!
As for college-aged students, how old you are is not the problem, it’s how old you act. And, at least in Columbus, we’ve made strong case for raising the legal age to 25.
I’d agree with them. Not like anything is really going to change, but if the age is lowered I think the rate of young binge drinking would drop.
I had the same experience. At 21, it’s definitely the forbidden fruit.
How many other countries have a lower drinking age?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age
Could WBNS have picked a more tabloid-sounding headline?
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee is at the center of a controversy over whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18.
Gee joined roughly 100 other college presidents to support a proposal called the Amethyst Initiative that asks lawmakers to reconsider the nation’s drinking laws, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.
The university said Gee does not necessarily believe the drinking age should be lowered, but that he “strongly believes that a comprehensive review of public policy related to responsible drinking is needed and that all aspects of our current approach should be thoroughly examined, analyzed and debated.”
READ MORE
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee is at the center of a controversy over whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18.
Gee joined roughly 100 other college presidents to support a proposal called the Amethyst Initiative that asks lawmakers to reconsider the nation’s drinking laws, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.
The university said Gee does not necessarily believe the drinking age should be lowered, but that he “strongly believes that a comprehensive review of public policy related to responsible drinking is needed and that all aspects of our current approach should be thoroughly examined, analyzed and debated.”
READ MORE
I really liked the jump in logic with MADD as well.
“It’s very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD’s national president.
I really liked the jump in logic with MADD as well.
“It’s very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD’s national president.
yeah, Laura Dean-Mooney is nuts. The original founder (Candy Lightner) quit the group years ago when they started going prohibitionist.
I’m actually, I think, the rare individual who actually very nearly waited until he turned 21 to start drinking, and I still would tend to support the Amethyst Initiative. (I had one can of MGD at a high school graduation party and didn’t drink again until I was 21, barring trips outside the country. Oh, and I still haven’t had a second can of MGD.) Setting the drinking age at 21 doesn’t seem to have done much.
That said, I’m supportive of studying the issue; I’m not saying I support actually lowering the age. There are two major risks I see, and I’d want information on just how big they are in reality, instead of just in my head, before I take a stand on lowering the age: (1) the combined effects of legal freedom (moving away from home to college or some other residence) + legal drinking manifesting at the same time; and (2) the combined effects of legal driving + legal drinking manifesting very close together, though with the driving age at 16, drivers do at least have two years or so to get comfortable on the roads before the freedom to drink would be thrown into the mix.
On a somewhat different topic, the system for military personnel is actually more complex than I’d realized. Note that even on those bases where personnel can drink while under 21, the law applies to the base, not the individual, so a 19-year-old soldier who leaves the base would have to obey the local laws.
The major drinking law reform I would support immediately is a parental right to consent. Right now, to the best of my knowledge, a parent cannot give a child permission to consume alcohol outside the parent’s presence; either the parent is there, or it’s illegal. The practical effect of this is that essentially no one will ever have a responsible introduction to drinking unless they get it at home, and no one will ever have a responsible introduction to drinking with friends unless everyone’s parents are there as well. Therefore, even graduation parties with parents are going to be verboten unless the parent of every single child present is also present. Wine at a team banquet, even an unofficial one? Forget it.
A somewhat more minor reform I’d support even more strongly would be a one-day relaxation of the rule for people getting married. I went to a wedding not long after graduating high school (before my classmates and I turned 21) at which the toast was made with sparkling grape juice.
As long as they don’t do something convoluted like they did in my day, with beer being one age, everything else another.
I’m torn about this. On one hand, I do think it will cause a drop in college binge drinking. On the other hand, I think it will cause an increase in binge drinking among 16 and 17 year olds.
But…there’s only one way to find out what will actually happen!
But…there’s only one way to find out what will actually happen!
Well, that is the tricky part. When I was in my teens, and beer was 19 drinking age, it became much easier to buy at 16 and 17 years old. I’d think more rigid carding would have to be part of it.
But…there’s only one way to find out what will actually happen!
Well, that is the tricky part. When I was in my teens, and beer was 19 drinking age, it became much easier to buy at 16 and 17 years old. I’d think more rigid carding would have to be part of it.
When I was 16, I had a couple friends who were 18, but none that were 21. Carding doesn’t matter when the 18 year old kid can legally buy it, then illegally give it to the 16 year old with the newly printed drivers license.
Maybe I’m being naive, but I don’t see there being a huge upswing in binge drinking 16 & 17 year olds as a result of lowering the drinking age. It’s a matter of opportunity. College students in the 18-20 range are *usually* away from home, away from (constant) adult supervision, and have a much wider opportunity to binge drink. High schoolers would need to find somewhere where the parents weren’t around or didn’t care. Not impossible (it happens all the time, of course), but still harder.
Saying that the 21 y/o drinking age won’t be enforced at colleges supporting this initiative is ludicrous. From what I saw, student affairs staff (RAs, hall directors, etc.) at OSU spend a LOT of time not only enforcing the drinking age & punishing those who break it in the dorms, but also counter-programming to try and prevent people from going off & partying/binge-drinking in the first place.
I don’t have much of a problem with lowering the drinking age, but I would like to find out more about this research mentioned here — how MUCH of a drop was it?
Forbidden fruit? Rebellion?
I guess those factored in when I was 14, but alcohol hasn’t lost its luster because I turned 21? Doesn’t anyone my age (26) get drunk because it’s really, really fun to be drunk?
Lauren Wilson, where art thou?
I support lowering the drinking age because of the simple fact that the state treats you as an adult at the age of 18.
The logic that says an 18 year old is mentally and physically capable of making decisions and choices that fundamentally affect our entire society through the act of voting, as well as fighting and dying for our country, but is not capable of drinking alcohol responsibly, is pretty scary.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee is at the center of a controversy over whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18.
Gee joined roughly 100 other college presidents to support a proposal called the Amethyst Initiative that asks lawmakers to reconsider the nation’s drinking laws, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.
The university said Gee does not necessarily believe the drinking age should be lowered, but that he “strongly believes that a comprehensive review of public policy related to responsible drinking is needed and that all aspects of our current approach should be thoroughly examined, analyzed and debated.”
READ MORE
I really liked the jump in logic with MADD as well.
“It’s very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD’s national president.
This is why we need a streetcar!
Hahahahaha. Just kidding.
So basically, people in every nation except the US, Oman, Pakistan, Fiji, Kiribati, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates can drink legally before they are 21.
I think a younger drinking age would be a good thing. Not because I want teens to get wasted all the time, but because I think people who grow up with alcohol and don’t consider it a taboo generally do better when they’re on their own and faced with the option of binge drinking every day.
My hometown in Ohio might be a big exception, but we have a lot of wineries around. It was normal to drink a glass of wine at dinner with your parents on a pretty regular basis. Most kids didn’t seem to go cuckoo bananas about alcohol when they went out on their own.
A big +1 to that.
I’m not sure if the lowered age would help so much with the social taboo of alcohol in America, but I think it would at least get the ball rolling. Might take a generation or two before we really start to see a shift in mindset.
A big +1 to that.
I’m not sure if the lowered age would help so much with the social taboo of alcohol in America, but I think it would at least get the ball rolling. Might take a generation or two before we really start to see a shift in mindset.
I think it helps in certain parts of the country that are culturally more accepting of alcohol. ie, not the south or Utah.