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University Presidents Support Lower Drinking Age

Claim that lower age would curtail binge drinking; Experts disagree

August 20, 2008

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So far, the verdict has been nearly unanimous. From health, safety and transportation experts to talk radio, a suggestion by 100 university presidents to lower the drinking age to 18 is being loudly denounced.

In all fairness to the educators, their open letter called for an open debate on the issue. However, they say the current 21-year age limit "isn't working" and suggest that allowing college freshmen to legally consume alcohol would help curtail binge drinking, which is rampant at many colleges and universities.

Others beg to differ.

"We know from previous experience that when the drinking age was lower in the 1970s, that deaths among 18- to 20-year-olds in traffic fatalities went up by about 800 a year," said Dr. Henry Wechsler, a lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Underage and binge drinking is a tough problem and we welcome an honest discussion about how to address this challenge but that discussion must honor the science behind the 21 law which unequivocally shows that the 21 law has reduced drunk driving and underage and binge drinking," said Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President Laura Dean-Mooney.

MADD, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the American Medical Association (AMA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Governors Highway Safety Association and other science, medical and public health organizations, and all members of the Support 21 Coalition said the educators should go back to school on this issue. Additionally, MADD said it is asking the public to write letters to their governors and college presidents to support the 21 law and ask those on the initiative list to remove their names.

"As the mother of a daughter who is close to entering college, it is deeply disappointing to me that many of our educational leaders would support an initiative without doing their homework on the underlying research and science," said Dean-Mooney. "Parents should think twice before sending their teens to these colleges or any others that have waved the white flag on underage and binge drinking policies."

One college president who does not support a lower drinking age is University of Miami President and former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. She says maintaining the legal drinking age at 21 is a socially and medically sound policy that helps parents, schools and law enforcement protect our youth from the potentially life-threatening effects of underage drinking.

"As a three-time university president, I can tell you that losing a student to an alcohol-related tragedy is one of the hardest and most heart-rending experiences imaginable," Shalala said. "Signing this initiative does serious harm to the education and enforcement efforts on our campuses and ultimately endangers young lives even more. I ask every higher education leader who has signed to reconsider. I am old enough to remember life on our campuses before the 21-year drinking rule. It was horrible."

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