McCardell presents alcohol plan to CRAs

Author: Tom Brant

President Emeritus John M. McCardell Jr. made a stop at Middlebury last weekend on his nationwide campaign tour to promote lower minimum drinking age laws. Addressing the College's Commons Residential Advisers (CRAs) at a development retreat on April 25, McCardell and his "Choose Responsibility" assistant Grace Kronenberg '06, made an hour-long presentation to the 10 CRAs. They explained that a lower drinking age, coupled with a graduated licensing program for underage drinkers, would reduce the amount of alcohol-related deaths in the United States. They then listened to comments and suggestions from the CRAs, who deal with underage drinking firsthand as part of their jobs at the College.

According to McCardell, who refers to the current minimum-age drinking law as "legal age 21," society is not doing enough to address teenage drinking.

"We need to get more serious about serious underage drinking," he said. "The best example of failure to enact cultural change is legal age 21. Our hope is that eventually we will see a more cultural attitude toward alcohol consumption."

McCardell also stressed that Choose Responsibility's sole objective is to reduce dangerous drinking habits of people who are too young to understand the effects of alcohol.

"The core of this proposal is not convenience," he said. "It's about justice, fairness, responsibility and the reduction of risk."

According to Cook Commons CRA Elizabeth Shaumberg '06, who was present at the retreat, Choose Responsibility would be most effective at reducing the risk of alcohol consumption if it focused on changing the public's perception of drinking.

"I think if the cultural norm shifted to a focus on responsibility instead of competitive binge drinking, we wouldn't see all the trips to the Health Center," she said.

Jess Horner '06, also a Cook CRA, added that Choose Responsibility would do well to address stress as a motive for dangerous alcohol consumption in college. She said that much of her job entails dealing with stressed-out people who get drunk, and gave several examples.

"A few [CRAs] were called out of their rooms at 3 a.m. to go to the hospital where we saw seven students who were very drunk and throwing up all over the floor," she said. "It seems like one of the few outlets for them to release stress is binge drinking."

McCardell said that based on a year of research, he decided that the best way to manage legal drinking by people under 21 is to use a graduated license program, not unlike that used in some states for teenage drivers. He said legal age 21 is ineffective precisely because it does not allow people to experiment with alcohol gradually.

"It's like handing the keys to the car to someone without any experience," he said.

Choose Responsibility has run the gamut of hallmarks that traditionally establish such a campaign's legitimacy. It has garnered a fair share of publicity, from national newspaper coverage to a debate between McCardell and a MADD board member televised on FoxNews. It also now has its own offices on Middlebury's Merchant's Row and refers to itself as ChooseResponsibility.org, the name of its new website. Perhaps most importantly, McCardell said, its message is slowly gaining credibility as an alternative way to combat underage drinking.

"Alcohol is a reality in the lives of young people," McCardell said. "It can't be ignored, denied, or legislated away."