Recently, Skidmore College President Philip Glotzbach stated in response to the Amethyst Initiative, an alcoholic beverage control reform group, that Skidmore has a marked interest in the debate on lowering the drinking age to eighteen years old. While Glotzbach refused to sign the initiative, which was founded by Middlebury College (Vt.) president Ronald Liebowitz, he emphasized the importance to create an open dialogue in the academic community on the matter.

The Amethyst Initiative states on their website that the laws currently in place on underage drinking promote irresponsibility and dangerous behavior.

The mission statement reads, “Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students… [We] invite new ideas about the best ways to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol.”

Last Spring in Middlebury, Vermont, Middlebury student Nick Garza ’11, was found dead in nearby Otter Creek after reported accounts of his underage binge drinking.

Seven Days (Burlington, Vt.), an independent newspaper, published that during the night Garza went missing in February, that “Nick had kept score as they downed shot for shot of liquor over the course of a couple of hours.”

This recent incident in Middlebury supports President Liebowitz’s belief that the current drinking age laws promote irresponsible behavior, that can sometimes lead to death. Liebowitz instated sanctions at Middlebury that project his sentiment on current alcohol control law.

On the Middlebury campus, an underage student who is caught drinking ” will receive a follow-up letter from the Commons dean, which will constitute an informal warning, and will provide specific information about Vermont law and College rules and expectations.”

A second underage drinking offense requires the completion of an online alcohol education course, appropriately named “E-Chug.” Parents are notified about the violation after a third-time offense.

Skidmore’s “Alcohol and Other Drug Policy” (AOD) requires underage student drinkers to call their parents upon each sanction they receive. Moreover, the students are accountable for paying a twenty-five dollar fine on their second offense, and a one-hundred dollar fine on their third offense. Skidmore gives the student an educational sanction only after a third-time offense.

The AOD policy was quickly placed into effect after Skidmore received bad publicity for drug related activity in the early 2000′s. Before the policy was adopted, Skidmore received the top ranking on the Princeton Review’s Reefer Madness list. During this same time, police arrested numerous students for dealing drugs, and a student, while intoxicated, fell out of a third-story balcony in Jonnson Tower.

The Skidmore administration, according to a Poll-Star (Glens Falls, N.Y.) article, believes, “the issue of binge drinking is much more complicated than the legal drinking age.”

Ultimately, Skidmore is not planning to revise their alcohol policies this year.