Drinking age
Some 123 American college presidents have signed a petition asking the nation to consider lowering the drinking age in the United States from 21 to 18.
The idea is to spark a national dialogue on the subject and encourage lawmakers to think seriously about making 18 the age at which a person may legally purchase and consume alcohol in the United States.
The initiative, led by John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, advocates 18 as the more reasonable age because, in his words, the 21 law "is routinely evaded."
"It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory," he argued. Mr. McCardell said that college students will consume alcohol regardless of the law but will do so at greater risk to themselves if it is illegal.
It is not by happenstance that the question is being advanced by college presidents in what is being called the Amethyst Initiative. The presidents are acutely aware of alcohol abuse by young people as they have struggled with the issue on their campuses.
Among those who have signed the petition are north country college presidents: Anthony G. Collins, Clarkson University, Potsdam; John Mills, Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, and Daniel F. Sullivan, St. Lawrence University, Canton.
Many other prominent schools have added their names to the list, including Syracuse and Colgate.
Colleges have seen it all: underage drinking, binge drinking, drunkenness, crimes, accidents, injuries and tragedies resulting from alcohol misuse. It is a problem that manifests itself acutely at college campuses for a number of reasons.
But the issue is wider than the campus; any change would have a positive effect in every community in America. There are many factors to consider in the areas of behavior, health, emotional maturity, psychological development, cultural values, ethics, law, law enforcement and safety.
However, lowering the drinking age will help keep more young people safe and enhance their health and well-being. The 21 drinking age is an unjust law. It is not universally enforceable. The law puts unnecessary stress on Americans between 18 and 21 years of age, college administrations, military leadership, police forces and small-business operators.
New Yorkers have had experience with an 18-year-old drinking age and generations of today's leaders survived.
A lower drinking age is easy to oppose, but support such as that exhibited by Presidents Sullivan and Collins requires courage and will bring a long-term benefit to America.
The debate should proceed and Congress should act with dispatch to end this sorry chapter of American history.
