Drinking age questioned

By Genna Tan

In a move intended to spark debate, University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., joined other university presidents from across the country in declaring that the drinking age has been unsuccessful in preventing dangerous underage drinking from occurring.

The Amethyst Initiative, launched in July 2008, is a public statement backed by 129 university chancellors and presidents that calls for debate on the 1984 law threatening states not adhering to the minimum drinking age of 21 with up to a 10 percent reduction in federal funding for highway systems.

Matthew Duncan, associate dean for student life, said "The Amethyst Initiative isn't saying to just lower the drinking age to 18, but to get the law that discourages states from lowering their drinking age off the books so that they can creatively think about new ways of addressing this issue."

According to the Office of Student Life, there were a total of 428 freshmen and sophomores disciplined for underage drinking last year.

Seventy-eight students also received medical attention due to excessive alcohol consumption, while 32 of those students were transported to the hospital. Of these 32 students, 75 percent were freshmen.

"We have 21-year-olds who do drink and get into trouble," said senior Ken Loh. "It's really hard to put a set age that will be a blanket or safe zone for everybody, and what it comes down to is personal discipline."

A majority of alcohol-related incidents occur at the beginning of each quarter.

First-year students are one of three student groups that are most likely to binge drink or engage in underage drinking, Duncan said. The other two groups are participants in Greek life and athletes.

Sophomore Skylar Richardson said she has mixed feelings about lowering the drinking age.

"I think that it's a double-edged sword. If you lower the drinking age, you're basically saying, 'OK, you can get drunk out of your minds and we're willing to adjust society to any short-term problems that will result,'" Richardson said.

"However, lowering the drinking age may ultimately reduce serious issues in the long run. Drinking will not seem taboo anymore and will be more of a social thing."

James Briggs, executive assistant to the president, was not available for comment. He referred all questions to the Office of Student Life.

Law student Chris Swanson said lowering the drinking age would have a negative effect on society.

"The problem with lowering the drinking age to 18 is that you would have more people who are just getting their drivers' licenses drinking irresponsibly," said Swanson, who is over 21 years old.

"By having the drinking age at 21, people will generally learn to drink responsibly with experience," Swanson said.

Law student Dominic McKeown said in Ireland, where the drinking age is 18, teenagers go to bars.

"In a bar there are some rules and regulations, whereas at house parties, things seem much less supervised because people are forced to do it," said McKeown, who is originally from Ireland.

"In the year 2000, the Surgeon General declared that this was a public health issue and set a goal that by the year 2010, he wanted to see the student binge-drink rate of 44 percent cut in half," said Duncan.

"As a nation, we have not made an impact in changing the habits and behaviors of this age group of young adults."

Contact Genna Tan at (408) 554-4546 or gbtan@scu.edu.