Alaska colleges don’t join drinking-age debate
Published Monday, November 17, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — University presidents in more than half the states have signed a petition calling for a debate about the legal drinking age.
So far, Alaska is not one of them.
Presidents at the University of Alaska and Alaska Pacific University say they are aware of the movement, dubbed the Amethyst Initiative, and have no plans to join it.
More than 130 college presidents have signed a one-page statement saying the minimum drinking age of 21 is not working. The list is available on the Web site www.amethystinitiative.org.
The petition calls on elected officials to support a debate about changing the drinking age. The group does not call for lowering the drinking age, but there’s a strong inference that is the group’s purpose.
“Adults under 21 are deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but they are told they are not mature enough to have a beer,” reads a line in the group’s official statement.
APU President Douglas North called the effort counterintuitive. APU has a dry campus, meaning alcohol is not allowed.
North said he doesn’t think fewer restrictions would solve problems such as binge drinking.
“My personal belief is that alcohol is kind of a plague on college campuses,” North said. “We keep as much of a lid as we can on alcohol consumption on our campus.”
UA President Mark Hamilton’s spokeswoman, Kate Ripley, said her boss doesn’t believe the drinking age ought to be lowered and a petition “along those lines” would not get his support.
“There are just so many other pressing issues facing the UA system right now, and this isn’t one that’s being discussed in any depth that I’m aware of. And I’m in a lot of meetings,” Ripley wrote in an e-mail.
Alaska Bible College President Nick Ringger, who was asked to join the initiative, could not be reached.
The man behind the movement is John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont. Presidents at Dartmouth College, Duke University, Ohio State University, Smith College, Johns Hopkins University, Syracuse University and Tufts University are among the signers.
The Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks hosted a panel discussion about student drinking late last month during Alcohol Awareness Week. No one advocated for bringing down the drinking age, and much of the discussion centered around trends in student drinking, according to one of the panelists.
Local legislators said they don’t hear constituents asking to lower the drinking age.
Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, said he has heard constituents suggest a return of Prohibition.
“A lot of it is people who say, ‘You are tougher on marijuana than booze, and booze is the bigger problem,’” Coghill said.
Brian Rogers, UAF alumnus and interim chancellor, has been asked to join the movement along with the chancellors of the University of Alaska’s other two main campuses. All three chancellors deferred to Hamilton on the issue.
Rogers said he thinks the Amethyst Initiative offers an opening for dialogue about the issue.
“It’s a great opportunity to prompt a campus, and maybe beyond, discussion about alcohol use and abuse among young adults,” he said.
Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7544.
Community Discussion
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prohibition?? We already tried that, it was pointless. prohibition will never return thankfully. Another pointless movement to punish those who drink responsibility.
A dry campus is not prohibition, permitting drinking on campus is like smoking in a gun powder factory, sooner or later it goes BANG.
A dry campus would not be a good idea. Especially since most college students party off campus. I agree that alcohol is a problem, I think that has a lot to do with the drinking age. If alcohol was not illegal between 18 and 21, there are many students who would not drink so dangerously at parties. If there are safe places for students to drink that may help. If things are not illegal it may not be so tempting for many students. I also agree with the following comment.
“A lot of it is people who say, ‘You are tougher on marijuana than booze, and booze is the bigger problem,’” Coghill said.
Alcohol is a bigger problem than marijuana because alcohol kills. I have never heard of anyone overdosing on marijuana or dying from marijuana posoining. We need to do something to change the alcohol issue is underage drinkers. I read the other day about increasing alcohol taxes working, and if 18 year olds are allowed to drink that method may apply to them.
Pot does tend to make people kinda lackadaisical when it comes to school and homework though.
I have a kid in Europe as an exchange student right now. Where she's at, kids are free to go to cafes and bars. I don't know how young, but I know she has had beers with 15 year olds.
She said the kids drink beer almost exclusively, and to drink hard booze is really rare.
She also said that she hasn't seen any kids get drunk. Or adults, and that includes at her host family's party for their nephew's wedding.
It's a whole different attitude. Perhaps the forbidden fruit thing.
This discussion is needed. As usual, Alaska is missing the boat here. Besides, a lot of good kids, who may be at a party listening to their buds play in a band or something, get busted for blowing .003 whether they're driving or not. It creates a plethora of problems, and clutters up the courts and cops spend too much time on unnecessary crap.
Then they become "bad kids" in the eyes of the law, employers, and too many people in general. And their records, as juveniles, remain available on the internet for all to see for any infraction they may have ever had.
I do not advocate a bunch of kids out partying and getting drunk. I do advocate a discussion, and less puritanical type mentality about the issue.
The main reason that the US has more of a drinking problem than European countries is because of the current laws. The best way to get a young adult to do something is to tell them they can't. How effective is a law when 70% of the population chooses to not follow it?
By making drinking illegal for those under 21 we are saying that drinking is so cool that you have to wait to try it. Trying to find ways to get alcohol when I was under 21 was half the fun of it. We had the fake id, someones older sibling or bribing a stranger in the parking lot. If you make it legal all they will get out of it is a headache in the morning.
Whatever there doing isn't working. That being said I don't oppose a younger drinking age, the responsibility starts at home.
kids will find alcohol one way or another, might as well lower the drinking age.
As a college student (actually at Dartmouth, one of the colleges whose president has signed on) I can say that I fully support this initiative from the perspective of a non-drinker. I absolutely cannot stand the idiocy that surrounds alcohol, and unfortunately that will persist either way. However, having the drinking age set at 21 merely causes people to think it's cool and adventurous, exacerbating the problem. I think if we lower the drinking age, then gradually the alcohol culture will change and more people will learn to drink responsibly instead of engaging in binge drinking that causes an unthinkable number of social problems. (Believe me, I hear the stories.) It won't happen right away, but I think over time a lower drinking age will have a positive effect.
"Alcohol is a bigger problem than marijuana because alcohol kills. I have never heard of anyone overdosing on marijuana or dying from marijuana poisoning."
True, it is nearly impossible to OD on pot. However, it is not without its dangers. Here is a reason to keep pot illegal: http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/11...
Someone should do a study on how many drivers are caught high, not just drunk.
I went to Sandhurst Royal Military Academy on an exchange. It's just outside London and is where Harry and other notables go. The lower drinking age and easy access to booze didn't stop anyone from drinking irresponsibly. In fact, I'd say it encouraged it. From what I saw they were as drunk and as stupid as any college over here- but I'd say more so. We should work to eradicate alcohol instead of encouraging it.
Unfortunately, most young people never see what alcohol can do to someone until it's too late. We should be watching commercials of alcoholics and drunk driving instead of clydesdales and spudz mackenzie during the superbowl.
Hell yeah!
I think it makes perfect sense that an 18 year old kid could be drafted into the Army and be killed for our country but also told he's too young to go down to the bar and buy an icey cold one with his friends.
Or that an 18 year old kid is able to buy a shotgun but not a six-pack.
Yessir, apparently these kids are old enough to be trusted with firearms or defending our country but not with a PBR.
Alaska, at the forefront of modern reasoning and discourse.
at my school there is tons of off campus underage drinking. citations are extremely rare and if you do get cited it's because of s*** luck, nothing more. the police response is useless and lazy at best. it's a waste of their time and our money; same deal with the court system. i also suspect that if kids could legally drink on campus or at other safe locations they wouldn't necessarily binge drink 100% of the time
If anyone no matter what age wants to drink they will. Would lowering the age limit help i personaly dont know the eighteen year olds are already getting beer illegaly so might as well let them get their beer legaly. I also think if a soldier can go off to war why not be allowed to have a beer if he or she is under age you can go to war at eighteen so let'em have a cold one. I gave up drinking so do what you want if you are one that can have a drink or two in a responsible manner go for it if you can't stop at one or two then just stick with club soda and lime. If you are gonna booze it up just dont freakin drive!!!
The drinking age should not be lowered, the enlistment/draft age should be raised. The voting age should remain the same because the youth have voices too.
I say make the age to drink and join the military the same.
For once, I agree with Valkyrie.
They need to raise the age limit on voting, rifle ownership, and service in the military to 21.
For those of you advocating lowering the age because it would "demystify" booze, we had the same problems with kids abusing alcohol before we raised the limit to 21.
I just don't see what good can possibly come of setting such a high age limit. People between 18 and 21 are adults and don't like being treated as children. It just engenders further generational gaps and anti-establishment thinking.
So are they proposing alcohol education along with the change to lower the age limit?
If they increased the consequences & enforcement, I'd be more open to changing the age limit.
I was going to UAF when the Drinking age was 19. Had plenty of parties the drinking age should never have been changed. I guess all the children of the 60's got nervous about their children doing what they did.......Shame on you!
EOD_Dave: proposing alcohol education? If your kid goes to public school, they have alcohol education from day 1. It's a bunch of scare tactics similar to the nonsense that was dispensed as education and fact during prohibition.
There is no middle ground, nowhere for kids to get true, reasonable information on things which, in all likelihood, they're going to try at some point.
I recommend a book called, "Buzzed," which has some real, honest info on the most common drugs (including alcohol), and their positive and negative effects. It's fair and balanced, and provides people of all ages with actual, useful information.
You can also check out a website called erowid.com, although that aims more at those intending to try every mind-altering substance under the sun. As parents, though, we owe it to ourselves to have this information, not the nonsense fearmongering the schools hand out.
(Yes, I have children, a lot of them, and I don't care if they lower the drinking age to 16, my kids will still be reasonable, well-educated, and watched over. As it is, it's against the law for me to share a glass of wine with my teen!)
I remember when I as a kid, my cousin and I would get too share a wine cooler for doing Christmas and Thanksgiving dishes. Good ole Bartles and James. Alright, off to an AA meeting...LOL.
While I agree that kids need to learn how to handle their alcohol in a safe environment, first by finding their limits, then by finding their preference, I cannot agree that lowering the legal age will make a difference. There are kids drinking at 15 and even with a legal age of 18 they would be breaking the law. So do we do as the Germans and make no limit on age of alcohol consumption or do we pick a number that makes us feel good?
The other question is the definition of a safe environment. There are some adults that don't think twice about drinking before driving, handling fire-arms, and engaging in sex (often, but not always at the same time). Of course there are also those who feel their opinions are best written after a few shots of corn and others who feel they are best read that way.
"prohibition?? We already tried that, it was pointless. prohibition will never return thankfully."
Actually, it's still with us. It's called the Drug War. And we continue to lose it. Unless, that is, having the highest incarceration rate in the world is considered a victory.
alcohol education in public school is a travesty. they use scare tactics, as mamabear pointed out, to try to keep kids away from alcohol. they don't work. i wrote a research paper on this. there's some interesting information out there about the usefulness of "abstinence only" substance/sex education. they are fairly ineffective.
and by "they" i meant those curricula
majast,
I've found one of the biggest reasons that these 'scare tactics' don't work on kids (besides for the fact that it's well known that the more you scare a kid about doing something the more likely he/she is to do it) but the other reason that programs like DARE etc. don't work is because these kids who are drinking or doing drugs aren't even in school to begin with.
They're skipping school to drink... and do drugs!
"As it is, it's against the law for me to share a glass of wine with my teen!"
It's actually legal for a parent to buy alcohol for their child. Some states have laws that it must be within your own home, but I'm pretty sure that every state has an excpetion to the law with regards to parents/guardians giving alcohol to their minor child.
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