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USC President Harris Pastides supports the idea behind a new intitiative signed by more than 100 university presidents in support of debate about lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, but he says he won't take part because a change won't solve the problems of drinking abuse.
One hundred twenty-eight university presidents and chancellors across the country have signed the statement, the Amethyst Initiative,in support of sparking this debate in the legislature.
Pastides said he praises the initiative's ability to bring universities together to discuss a prominent issue in American culture.
"To a degree, the initiative is about fostering a serious discussion about behavioral issues on college campuses and in America," he said.
Ultimately, the newly appointed president would like to see a conversation or forum held between students, faculty, staff and all other facets of the university system to discuss the issue.
Pastides said he'll more than likely not sign the Amethyst Initiative because he feels simply changing the drinking age won't solve the problem.
"I don't think I'll sign it.? If it was a petition for universities to talk holistically about the issue, I would, but I wouldn't sign anything relative to rolling back the drinking age," Pastides said.
The Amethyst Initiative started a little under a year ago by the former Middlebury College President John McCardell and has been recruiting university presidents since.
The initiative was created to reopen debates about the current drinking age and whether it has made youth binge drinking more prevalent.
Grace Kronenberg, assistant to the director of the Amethyst Initiative, said the group is like a catalyst for debate in legislature.
"The 21-year-old drinking age adds to a culture marked by binge drinking, especially off campus," Kronenberg said. "University presidents are using their influence as leaders to spark debate."
Currently, the Amethyst Initiative has signatories from schools including Dartmouth, Syracuse, Colgate and Duke University.
Duke University President Richard. H. Brodhead said the current drinking age doesn't prevent alcohol from being available either on American college campuses or for younger people.
"But at colleges and universities, the law does have other effects: It pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks, including risks from drunken driving, and it prevents us from addressing drinking with students as an issue of responsible choice," he said.
Jerry Brewer, USC's associate vice president of student affairs, said he was fascinated by McCardell's presentation at a conference last year.
"It's a healthy debate," Brewer said. "The university, 'academia', is a great place to have this discussion."
Brewer said he remembers being an administrator at the university before the drinking age was changed in 1984.
The Reagan administration tied the drinking age to highway appropriations, deeming that any state with a drinking age lower than 21 would be denied 10 percent of highway appropriations.
"Binge drinking wasn't a term used back then, but there was dangerous drinking going on then and still going on now," he said. "There has been a change in the marketplace.?There would never be a 'shot menu' years ago.?When you're in the business of selling liquor, you sell as much of it as you can. It's your product."
According to the Associated Press, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) said lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. They accused the presidents of taking the easy way out on a troubling problem.
"It's?very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses," said Laura Dea-Mooney, national president of MADD.
One study has estimated more than 500,000 full-time students at four-year colleges suffer injuries each year related in some way to drinking, and about 1,700 die in such accidents, according to the Associated Press.
Some USC students, however, believe that lowering the drinking age would actually help alleviate some of the problems caused by binge drinking on college campuses.
Danielle Earle, a third-year hotel, restaurant and tourism management student, said lowering the drinking age would make drinking less taboo and less glamorous.
"A lot of 18-year-olds already drink at the age of 18.?By lowering the drinking age, drinking wouldn't be as cool and not as dangerous," Earle said.
Fourth-year political science student Dan Fenner said that by lowering the drinking age, the university could adequately address the issue rather than hiding behind strict law.
"If the drinking age were lowered, policies on college campuses could better address alcohol-related issues because the entire student body would be legally and officially affected by these issues," Fenner said.
Fenner said public?transportation options and partnerships with local businesses to ensure student safety would be easier to discuss with a lowered drinking age.
Brewer said the university has made tremendous efforts to ensure the safety of USC students.
"We have implemented several initiatives like mystudentbody.com and have made huge strides in alcohol and drug education, but we have a long way to go," he said.
Pastides said that as a society and as a nation, we need to look at the bigger picture.
"I don't defend that raising the drinking age to 21 solved anything, but I am confident that rolling it back to 18 wouldn't solve anything either.? What is missing in our culture is education - programs should start with young kids," Pastides said.
Pastides said to use Europe as an example, saying that because they don't have a drinking age there, people learn to drink responsibly early on.
"The drinking age is not an issue there because societal factors like the relationship between food, family and consumption is different," he said. "Education should start at an early age."
Brewer said the topic is universal and timeless.
"This issue has been in our society since the first grape," Brewer said. "If we knew the right answer to ensure the safety of our students, we would do it at the drop of a hat."
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