The debate over the Amethyst Initiative, a petition aimed to prompt discussion about lowering the drinking age, continues despite UNC system president Erskine Bowles’ decision last week not to support it.
Vice chancellors for student affairs from universities across the state will meet in Chapel Hill today and will discuss the drinking age issue, according to Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs.
Stafford said he supports Bowles’ decision, which cited research from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Skipper Bowles Center for Alcohol Research and other campuses that said the “age-21 law” saves lives.
“I’m very receptive to things that we can do to try to address [drinking issues],” Stafford said.
Bowles addressed the issue through a memo to system chancellors after Richard Brodhead, Duke president, made headlines for joining the initiative.
John McCardell, creator of Amethyst and former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, said it was not unusual for public institutions not to support the initiative.
“Any university that is dependent upon public support needs to take into account how various positions it might take would be interpreted by that public,” he said. McCardell said 130 schools’ presidents have signed on.
Some presidents, however, have misunderstood the initiative’s mission, he said. “This is not a statement that is calling for a particular policy change,” McCardell said. “It is simply calling for a debate over whether the current law is working.”
One way Stafford said N.C. State is working to educate students about responsible drinking practices is through AlcoholEdu, which is mandatory for a second year for incoming freshman.
Chris Austin, assistant director of health promotion and substance abuse prevention for Student Health Services, said lowering the drinking age could lead to overindulgence. “Sometimes I think maybe age isn’t the issue at all,” he said. “It’s what people are doing when they choose to drink.”
Austin said he was glad the initiative has started a discussion on the issue, though he supported Bowles’ decision too.
One reason he supports it, he said, is that the human brain does not fully form until a person is 24 or 25 years old, and alcohol can affect the brain’s development.
In defense of lowering the drinking age, McCardell said the current law is ineffective, because people under 21 still drink frequently, they just have to drink in private to avoid punishment. Making the drinking age 18 would permit more people to drink in public places, and encourage more responsible behavior, McCardell said.
“They’re not being lost in restaurants, student unions and public areas,” he said. Greg Doucette, Student Senate president and president of the University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments, said ASG has not taken a position on the drinking-age topic, but he said it is important that the initiative has brought about discussion.
