This summer, Goucher's President Sanford J. Ungar became one of over 100 university and college presidents to sign the Amethyst Initiative, a statement calling for a national discussion on the 21-year-old drinking age.
The name of the Amethyst Initiative is derived from the Greek legend of the assault on Amethyst by the drunk god Dionysus. It examines three main tenets: 1. It's time to rethink the drinking age; 1. 21 is not working; 3. How many times must we relearn the lessons of Prohibition?
Ungar learned about the initiative last spring from its creator, John McCardell, when he was a panelist for a Goucher forum on the drinking age. McCardell, a former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, leads an organization called Choose Responsibility.
"I was pretty impressed by his sincerity," Ungar said. "I thought he knew what he was talking about."
Over the summer, McCardell came to Annapolis for a meeting of liberal arts college presidents. After making sure that the interests of the alcohol industry were not behind the initiative, Ungar agreed to sign it.
Although Ungar and the other 130 Presidents who have signed the initiative believe that the current laws do not work, as shown by the amount of alcohol consumption on college campuses, the Amethyst Initiative is not necessarily calling for a lowering of the drinking age.
"A lot of people have characterized this as a choice between 21 and 18," Ungar said, "but it's a lot more sophisticated than that."
Ungar expressed disappointment that people have reacted to the initiative in such a narrow way. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) sent his office over 700 e-mails attacking him and newspaper editorials have been similarly antagonistic towards the initiative.
But Ungar is adamant that he does not condone underage drinking. He believes there should be far stricter penalties against drunk drivers. However, he also believes that the current laws promote cynicism more than anything else. By associating Goucher with the Amethyst Initiative, Ungar hopes it "puts us in the vanguard of the truth tellers."
Although the initiative was rebuffed by newspaper editorials and other sources, Ungar said "a new day is dawning." He is optimistic that with a new president in January, a referendum on such laws as the drinking age will take place.
Editor's note: read the statement at www.amethystinitiative.org/statement/.
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