News Brief

More than 100 college and university presidents nationwide have signed a statement calling for a public debate on rethinking the drinking age.

This story is about the views of six presidents in the state of Maryland, which sits in the shadow of Capitol Hill, where the law at issue was passed.

They propose lowering the legal drinking age to 18.

As long as underage drinkers sneak around, institutions of higher education are limited in what they can do, say these presidents.

They make a persuasive case.

Baltimore Sun

“”How many times must we relearn the lessons of prohibition?” the statement says. “Adults under 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.”

“Each state has the authority to set its own drinking age, but in 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which says that states with a drinking age lower than 21 will lose 10 percent of their federal highway money. After that law passed, all 50 states raised their drinking age to 21.

“The first step for the presidents is to work for repeal of that law as part of next year’s transportation reauthorization bill. They recognize the challenge, given the passions ignited by the issue, but say they are desperate to confront the problem of drinking on and off college campuses.

“We have this law that in effect prevents any state from exploring new ways of addressing the issue,” said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the Maryland state university system. “We have a crisis on our hands. We need some new ideas and new thinking.”

Source: Baltimore Sun, August 19, 2008