Arguing that current drinking age laws have fostered unhealthy behaviors among 18-20-year-olds, a group of college and university presidents has proposed a debate on the effectiveness of the 21-and-over alcohol consumption policy in the United States. The movement, called the Amethyst Initiative, has drawn signatories from 130 college and university presidents of higher education, including College President James Wright, and has sparked widespread discussion on the issue since it gained national media attention in August.
Dartmouth in particular has drawn frequent mention, as Wright is the only president of an Ivy League institution to sign thus far.
"I believe the drinking age should be lower than 21," Wright told The Dartmouth, expressing his unequivocal support for the initiative.
Since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act -- which ties full federal funding for state highways to a 21-year-old drinking age -- was passed in 1984, Wright said he has noticed a change in Dartmouth students' drinking habits and among 18-20-year-olds at large.
Wright believes that, when the drinking age was 18, students viewed drinking as just one component -- and not the primary focus -- of social gatherings. The 21-and-over law, he explained, has driven student drinking underground and behind closed doors.
"Forcing drinking underground causes it to become an end in itself," Wright said.
The launch of the Amethyst Initiative has taken the idea of revisiting the drinking age from "a periodic blip on the radar screen" to a topic of national debate, according to Grace Kronenberg, assistant to the director for Amethyst's parent organization, Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization founded and directed by John McCardell Jr., president emeritus of Middlebury College. Kronenberg said 70,000 people visited the Amethyst Initiative web site during the first week of its general dissemination.
"If you've paid any attention to the media coverage at all, then you've seen that there has been lots of coverage, and the response has far, far surpassed our expectations," she said.
Amethyst has also faced fierce opposition, most intensely from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MADD believes the schools are creating and perpetuating underage and binge drinking on their campuses. In response to the Amethyst Initiative, MADD issued a press release that ascribes underage and binge drinking on college campuses to "a perfect storm of affluence, opportunity and tolerance." The release also questioned whether the administrations of signatory schools "bother" to uphold current drinking laws. Misty Moyse, director of media relations for MADD, added that students on college campuses can have unlimited access to alcohol when adult providers fail to adequately check identification and in other similar situations.
According to Wright said, the strong opposition makes it unlikely that Amethyst will get to test an alternative solution anytime soon.
"I'm not sure I would want to hold my breath until the drinking age is lowered," he said.
Signatories of the Amethyst Initiative represent public and private institutions of all sizes across the nation, including both secular and religiously affiliated schools, as well as several two-year colleges.
Some signatories emphasize that Amethyst invites a debate on the issue but stops short of explicitly endorsing lowering the drinking age. These participants have released official statements to clarify that they have not taken a definitive stance on the issue.
MADD welcomes a conversation about potential solutions to underage and binge drinking, Moyse said, but envisions a discussion that works within the framework of the existing 21-and-over law.
"The discussion centers on how we can change the environment, increase enforcement, work with parents, and have more responsibility," she said.
Wright said he has received 1,400 e-mails from a MADD-sponsored campaign, criticizing his support for the Amethyst Initiative. Similar pressure caused two Georgia university presidents to remove their names from the list, though other presidents have since signed on.
The close scrutiny that signatories have received may be hindering college presidents' abilities to consider the initiative honestly and openly, Kronenberg said. The original plans for Amethyst had called for a mid-September debut in both a major publication like USA Today and a press conference, after presidents and chancellors had time to weigh their decisions, but the letter and the names of its signatories were leaked to the Associated Press in August.
The Amethyst Initiative derives its name from the Greek for "not intoxicated" " in ancient Greece, the amethyst was believed to promote moderation and keep drunkenness at bay. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is up for reauthorization in 2009.
