Published: August 22, 2008 10:58 pm         

Valley college presidents not on list of university officials pushing evaluation of legal drinking age

TERRE HAUTE — Though more than 100 university officials across the nation want legislators to re-evaluate the minimum drinking age of 21, local university presidents aren’t so sure.

As of Friday, 129 university chancellors and presidents signed the Amethyst Initiative — a public statement that declares the 21-year-old drinking age isn’t working and asks for an “informed, dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age,” according to the Amethyst Initiative Web site, www.amethystinitiative.org.

By signing, university officials are “calling upon elected officials to weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies and to invite new ideas on how to best prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol use,” the Web site states.

Three of the college presidents on the list are in Indiana: Butler University, Hanover College and Holy Cross College. Indiana State University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology presidents have not signed the statement.

“I do not have a position on the subject of what an appropriate legal drinking age should be,” ISU President Daniel Bradley said in a statement. “However, like all matters of public policy, I believe it is healthy to debate the issues from time to time.”

Rose-Hulman President Gerald Jakubowski echoed that statement.

“I understand the arguments being offered on both sides of the issue,” he said. “However, at the present time, I do not have a position on what is the appropriate, legal drinking age, and I will need to listen to the debates and weigh the pros and cons before forming an opinion. Therefore, I have not signed the initiative.”

St. Mary’s President David Behrs also is open to many possibilities.

“I did not sign the petition,” he said in a statement, “but I do think that we need to explore new ideas on how best to prepare and empower young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol.”

The Amethyst Initiative launched last month, but began when John McCardell, president of Emeritus of Middlebury College and founder of Choose Responsibility, began speaking with colleagues about the 21-year-old drinking age while preparing for a speech in June.

From those conversations, the statement was drafted, which “does not, by design prescribe a particular policy change,” according to the Web site.

Still, the Initiative does state: “Twenty-one is not working. A culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge-drinking’ — often conducted off-campus — has developed.” It goes on to question why someone under 21 can vote, sign contracts, serve on a jury or enlist in the military, but can’t drink alcohol.

In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Under this act, any state that set its drinking age lower than 21 missed out on 10 percent of its federal highway appropriation.

Legislators are asked if this act “encourages or inhibits” the drinking age debate.

Regardless of what is decided, those who signed the Initiative “pledge ourselves and our institutions to playing a vigorous, constructive role as these critical discussions unfold.”

For more information, visit www.amethystinitiative.org.

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.





CHECK IT OUT

• For more information about the Amethyst Initiative, visit www.amethystinitiative.org, e-mail info@amethystinitiative

.org, call (802) 398-2024, fax (802) 398-2029 or mail to:

Amethyst Initiative

P.O. Box 507

Middlebury, VT 05753