Skidmore declines discussion
on lowering the drinking age

By DREW KERR
dkerr@poststar.com
Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Nearly 130 college presidents have signed on to a new effort supporting a re-evaluation of the country's drinking age.

Skidmore College President Philip Glotzbach is not among them.

It's not that organizers of the Amethyst Initiative -- a group of higher education leaders who are calling for a national debate on the drinking age -- didn't reach out to the Skidmore administrator.

They did.

But officials at the liberal arts college said this week that the group is overly simplifying a complex issue and framing the conversation incorrectly.

Amethyst's petition, sent to leaders at four-year institutions across the country, does not expressly call for a lowering of the drinking age.

It does, however, assert that the current legal drinking age of 21 creates a "culture of dangerous, clandestine 'binge drinking,' " that teaching students to abstain hasn't worked and that it prompts students to create fake IDs -- an "ethical compromise that erodes respect for the law."

It also points out that adults younger than 21 are "deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but are told they are not mature enough to have a beer."

John McCardell, Middlebury College president and the founder of the Amethyst Initiative, said the current law presents a double standard for those who are considered adults but not allowed to imbibe.

"Let's not infantilize them and say they lack the maturity and judgment in one area and not in the other," he said this week from Middlebury, Vt., where the group is centered.

In a written response to Amethyst, Skidmore leaders said they "believe that the issue of binge drinking is much more complicated than the legal drinking age" and said they have "significant reservations" about the terms under which Amethyst is pushing for the debate.

"Even as the statement calls for 'informed and dispassionate debate,' it also asserts that 'twenty-one' is not working and asks, 'How many times must we relearn the lessons of Prohibition?' " the Skidmore response states.

McCardell, though, said the organization is not expressing outright support for lowering the drinking age. Instead, he said the onus is being put on supporters of the status quo to prove that the 21-year-old legal drinking age limit, which has been law since 1984, is working.

"While it may sound like all of these presidents have already made up their mind, what they're, in fact, all saying is, 'Here's a proposition and let's debate it. We could be wrong but let's at least debate it,' " he said.

In a survey of 650 Skidmore students conducted last fall, 80 percent of first-year students reported light or moderate levels of alcohol consumption; 20 percent reported heavy levels.

The survey also showed that 7 percent of students said they had more than seven drinks and that 15 percent said they had five to seven drinks over the last weekend.

In 2005, the latest year for which data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health was available, 51.5 percent of 18- to 20-year-olds say they had drank alcohol within the last 30 days.

And a 2006 survey of Saratoga Springs high schoolers showed students reported binge drinking and using marijuana in numbers above the national average.

Twenty-five percent of 11th and 12th graders reported being drunk or high at school within the past year, according to the survey, which will be updated this fall.

The statistics highlight the pervasive underage alcohol use, but should not be motivation alone to acquiesce and change the law, said Patty Kilgore, a clinical director with the Saratoga Springs Prevention Council who has worked with teenagers for the past 20 years.

"If there is a serious discussion, I hope it's not because it's simply too hard to enforce the law," she said. "I hope there's also a serious discussion on the risks as well."

Like other local authorities and prevention experts, Kilgore said she's worried young people don't understand the serious consequences of drinking.

Jen Burden, Skidmore's director of health promotion, also said she had reservations about altering the age.

She said the issue of underage drinking is broad and complex, requiring cultural changes and not simply an amendment to the law.

"It's definitely worth looking into, but is it the answer to all of our problems? Probably not," Burden said.

Saratoga Springs Police Chief Edward Moore also said he supports Skidmore's stance.

Lowering the drinking age could encourage youths to begin drinking even earlier in life when the body isn't prepared physiologically to handle alcohol and risky behavior is more prevalent, he said.

It could also lead to an increase in crimes that are often linked to alcohol -- assault, vandalism and motor vehicles accidents, for example -- Moore said.

"Let's be real," he said. "Does changing the law mean these kids are going to become automatically responsible? I don't think so. You're not going to wave a magic wand and get responsible behavior just because it's legal now."