What do the presidents of Duke University, Dartmouth College and Colgate University all have in common? They have all signed the Amethyst Initiative, a proposal to lower the drinking age. These presidents, along with 133 others, agree that 21 is “just not working.”
The signatories believe that college students, whether underage or not, will drink alcohol, but the
dangers of “binge drinking” can be reduced if the legal age is reduced as well.
The Initiative states "that the problem of irresponsible drinking by young people continues, despite the minimum legal drinking age of 21, and there is a culture of dangerous binge drinking on many campuses. The Initiative calls for an “informed and unimpeded debate” on lowering the drinking age.
Elon University President Leo Lambert is aware of the alarmingly high number of students that engage in high-risk underage drinking at Elon. In 2007, Lambert created the Presidential Task Force on Alcohol. Lambert, along with Professor Jack Clark and Smith Jackson, vice president and dean of Student Life, created a set of “increased sanctions” to hold students who violate campus policies on underage drinking “fully accountable for their actions.” For serious violations, he held that students could be suspended or lose the privilege of studying abroad. This was discussed in his “straight talk on alcohol abuse” letter, where he states that he is “deeply concerned” about this issue. The numbers are clear: 15 students suspended and more than six hospitalized for alcohol abuse last year alone.
Lambert admits that the Elon community cannot “turn away from this problem.”
According to students, Elon is putting in a grand effort to tackle this problem.
“The cops broke up parties after just an hour all fall,” senior Liz Skube said. “The school doesn’t provide many other options on weekend nights and we are college students. What are we supposed to do?”
Skube is right. The efforts made by Elon to combat underage drinking are just driving kids into drinking clandestinely, which is exactly what the Initiative is against. According to a 2010 article by The Pendulum, in the past five years, the Town of Elon Police Department arrested 297 people for drug violations and 186 people for alcohol related charges. There were only seven arrests for robbery, and Skube said that students under 21 are more likely to get caught drinking than stealing at Elon.
The Presidential Task Force is not working. It is obvious that Lambert needs to rethink his approach to underage drinking at Elon. The Amethyst Initiative is a great start- there is a reason that 136 reputable names are attached to the document. Donald Eastman, president of Eckered College, signed to represent both his school and his family. “I signed because my 35 years
in higher education and my 30 years as a parent to three sons convinced me that the 21-year-old drinking age is hypocritical, ineffective, guilt- inducing and counterproductive,” said Eastman.
So why is Lambert hesitant? Is he afraid to taint the reputation of Elon, despite the fact that on websites such as College Prowler and College Confidential, Elon is repeatedly listed as a “party school?"
Ripon College President David Joyce urges other college presidents to consider their responsibilities to their students. “As educators, we are missing an opportunity to teach young people about responsible consumption of alcohol. All of us know the difficulty of managing a residential campus where roughly half of the students can consume alcoholic beverages and the other cannot,” Ripon stated.
Elon’s initiatives, such as SPARKS, “Party Smart” and the Presidential Task Force, attempt to teach underage students how to drink safely, but each year there are still students taken to the hospital for consuming too much alcohol. If nothing else is working, then signing the initiative may be the perfect way to shake things up.