100 college presidents are wrong

Loné Beasley Publisher

August 27, 2008 12:56 pm

— One hundred college and university presidents nationwide signing a statement calling for a reduction of the legal drinking age reminds us of what we have known for a long time. Great intelligence does not always produce sane ideas.
Unquestionably these are learned people, but their premise, at least on this subject, is greatly flawed. According to the Baltimore Sun, William R. Brody, president of John Hopkins University, said he favors reducing the legal drinking age because the current allowable age of 21 “is not working.” Brody also offered up this bromide: “Kids are going to drink whether it’s legal or illegal.”
But then he drops the real goose egg by saying, “We’d at least be able to have a more open dialogue with students about drinking as opposed to this sham where people don’t want to talk about it because it’s a violation of the law.”
It is silly to think lowering the drinking age will somehow make dialog on the subject easier.
Now for the facts: According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), drinking by college students aged 18-24 contributes to an estimated 1,700 deaths, almost 600,000 injuries, almost 700,000 assaults, more than 90,000 sexual assaults, and 474,000 engaging in unprotected sex yearly. In 2007, the U. S. Surgeon General estimated approximately 5,000 persons under age 21 died from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking.
It is nonsense to think lowering the legal drinking age will somehow change these numbers for the better.
But the real truth of the matter is these college and university presidents are not saying what the real truth of the matter is. When these horrendous incidents involving underage drinkers occur on a college or university campus, they have liability.
What is a good way to pass off the liability? Easy. Get the drinking age reduced to 18, the age of most kids who enroll in an institution of higher learning.
Whatever the answer is to getting underage drinking nipped in the bud, it does not include allowing 18 year olds to legally drink liquor.