Are any of you 18 to 21 year olds planning to consume alcohol tonight? Over 130 colleges across the nation are willing to discuss whether you should be allowed to drink legally. There is one notable exception from that list of colleges: UW-Madison.
This list, better known as the Amethyst Initiative, demands an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age"" aimed at solving the binge-drinking issue buzzing around campuses across America.
Officials at UW-Madison, however, are avoiding a commitment to the initiative.
""I think before I would personally want to take any stance on that I would really want to get into the research and decide whether I believe dropping the drinking age would diminish abusive drinking,"" UW System President Kevin Reilly said.
UW-Madison officials have pointed to the new changes at chancellor as a central reason for not taking a stance at this point. UW Chancellor Carolyn ""Biddy"" Martin's former employer, Cornell University, has yet to sign the Amethyst Initiative.
The university's sidestepping of this major issue can only be seen as a wasted opportunity to explore and debate the issue of lowering the drinking age to 18 - a step, some believe, that may curb unhealthy drinking habits and eliminate the campus divide between of-age and underage students.
UW-Madison annually ranks in the top 10 of nearly every major collegiate drinking poll in The Princeton Review, and Wisconsin routinely ranks high nationally in underage drinking. So why won't UW-Madison officials simply join the initiative? Are they drunk with power? Even if they do not agree with the proposed change, UW-Madison officials could consult with other colleges on why they are against it.
UW-Madison must join the Amethyst Initiative to give their perspective, as a school battling a culture of heavy alcohol consumption, regardless of what research needs to be done first. The initiative is a debate, not a contract. As of now, their logic for not joining is tipsy at best.
