On the face of it, the notion seems counterintuitive, but to the presidents of some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, it makes a lot of sense: Lowering the legal drinking age might get students to drink less.
But any chance for the academic leaders to begin a public discussion of their theory–that allowing people as young as 18 to drink legally might promote moderation–has been lost in a wave of criticism from health experts, transportation officials, government leaders and opponents of drunken driving.
“Safety advocates say the legal drinking age of 21 saves about 900 lives every year. And Laura Dean-Mooney, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said people look to college presidents ‘for their leadership role on their campuses. It just seems like they didn’t do enough homework to look at the science on this.’
“Other critics said the university leaders are trying to avoid being held liable for enforcing the drinking age and are kicking the problem to others. ‘I’m an alumnus of Dickinson College and can’t believe they signed on to this initiative,’ said Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association. ‘They are really just punting on the issue and leaving the high school principals to deal with it. Very disappointing.'”
