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The higher education community debates the drinking age
Anyone following the higher education press lately has surely noticed the buzz surrounding the Amethyst Initiative, a joint statement of the presidents of over one hundred colleges and universities throughout the country urging a reconsideration of the 21-year drinking age. The proponents of the Initiative argue that the ban on consumption of alcohol by those under 21 promotes a "culture of dangerous, clandestine 'binge-drinking' -- often conducted off-campus."
As one might expect, the Amethyst Initiative has generated its fair share of controversy. There are forceful arguments on both sides, as articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Pope Center, and the Los Angeles Times demonstrate. However, both sides can agree -- and ACTA wholeheartedly concurs -- that the drinking culture that pervades many of our campuses is a problem that needs to be addressed in a constructive way. ACTA encourages trustees to engage in a dialogue with administrators and faculty about how to approach this issue, with academic rigor in mind. Many students are dedicating so much time to partying that it is extremely difficult to believe they have enough substantive work to do -- a problem that is surely linked to the curricular decline chronicled in ACTA's studies on academic excellence. Addressing this would reinforce the university's primary mission as a place of teaching and learning -- rather than, to borrow a phrase from ACTA's president, "beer and spectacle."
Now that is reform to which we each can raise our glass!
Posted by Sandra E. Czelusniak on August 29, 2008 at August 29, 2008 09:57 AM
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