The UNC System is waiting until directors of student affairs from state universities can discuss an initiative that supports lowering the drinking age to 18 before taking a stance, according to Board of Governors Chair Hannah Gage.
The Amethyst Initiative is a petition signed by 123 college presidents, including Duke University President Richard Brodhead, from around the country to lower the drinking age. These college presidents are the equivalents of Chancellor James Oblinger.
“We need to talk to the people on campus that are experts, that deal day to day with some of the issues that relate to alcohol and underage drinking [before taking a stance on the issue],” she said.
Since UNC President Erskine Bowles declared this an item for the Board of Governors, Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs, said University officials cannot comment on the initiative.
According to Gage, the system’s views will be primarily shaped by data.
“There are more than 50 studies that have been done in the states that have moved between [the ages of] 18 and 21 over the years,” she said. “In all of them, the data clearly shows that when the drinking age goes up, the number of deaths and highway fatalities drop significantly across the board.”
Most of the points that Amethyst creator John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College, makes in his argument to lower the drinking age are based on “societal or behavioral problems” instead of data, Gage said.
Most of the schools aligned with the Amethyst Initiative are private colleges or universities, she added.
Greg Doucette, who is an ex-officio member of the Board of Governors as president of the North Carolina Association of Student Governments, said distinguishing between private and public schools is important.
“What students want is only one of many [issues] that we have to keep in mind,” he said.
Doucette, a senior in computer science and Student Senate president, said ASG members will be able to discuss the drinking-age issue at their meeting next weekend, unless there is a more pressing issue.
Campus Police Capt. Jon Barnwell said he could not provide comment because the police only enforce the law.
“It’s up to the General Assembly to make a change in the law,” he said.
When the University or the UNC system of schools make a decision, Barnwell said police will support it.
Gage said the board must look outside campuses when making its decision.
“What we do on campus or what [support] on campus can’t be look at in isolation,” she said. “It also impacts communities and highways across the state. We’ll look at it in total, in a much broader way than a change in drinking age.”
David Granger, a junior in computer science, said he thought 18-year-olds should be allowed to drink.
“Ultimately, [drinking is] going to happen anyway,” he said. “If they’re going to lower it there should be stiffer fines for driving while drunk.”
According to Doucette, what matters is that people are discussing the issue.
“There’s a concern among many of the students that underage drinking is a discussion that you cannot legitimately have,” he said.
