[Robbie]

The increase to a federal 21 drinking age was predicated on its value to reduce drinking and driving. I'm sure there is (unfortunately) some drinking and driving on campus, but predominantly people walk (or bike.)

Most industrialized societies have a drinking age of roughly 18, and it tends to not be so strictly enforced. Do other societies have drunk driving problems? Do other societies have alcohol-related sexual assault problems? I'm sure they do, but they primarily use other levers to control them than the drinking age.

I went from being an exchange student in South America at 17 (where there was no legal drinking age, as far as I could tell) to living in Scotland (where the drinking age was completely unenforced) to going to Stanford back when the only significant alcohol rule was EANAB. The band, in particular, was under the direction of Barnes (who was not going to enforce or even suggest a limit on alcohol intake; he wasn't a hypocrite), and since it wasn't a residential organization the various ResEd rules did not apply.

Frankly, if my children were on campus I'd much rather they were stumbling home from a party on the row than driving home from a party at some rented facility off campus (in order to get around restrictive campus rules.) My daughter went to college in Manhattan - which means that she was either walking there or taking the subway. (Maybe Uber - who knows what she did with money I sent.) At least I did not fear that she was getting in a car where the driver had been drinking.

Let's solve the problems that exist. (They are real, and I don't mean to minimize them.) But no need to use drinking age or campus alcohol rules as the mechanism.

[Robbie]

The increase to a federal 21 drinking age was predicated on its value to reduce drinking and driving. I'm sure there is (unfortunately) some drinking and driving on campus, but predominantly people walk (or bike.)

Most industrialized societies have a drinking age of roughly 18, and it tends to not be so strictly enforced. Do other societies have drunk driving problems? Do other societies have alcohol-related sexual assault problems? I'm sure they do, but they primarily use other levers to control them than the drinking age.

I went from being an exchange student in South America at 17 (where there was no legal drinking age, as far as I could tell) to living in Scotland (where the drinking age was completely unenforced) to going to Stanford back when the only significant alcohol rule was EANAB. The band, in particular, was under the direction of Barnes (who was not going to enforce or even suggest a limit on alcohol intake; he wasn't a hypocrite), and since it wasn't a residential organization the various ResEd rules did not apply.

Frankly, if my children were on campus I'd much rather they were stumbling home from a party on the row than driving home from a party at some rented facility off campus (in order to get around restrictive campus rules.) My daughter went to college in Manhattan - which means that she was either walking there or taking the subway. (Maybe Uber - who knows what she did with money I sent.) At least I did not fear that she was getting in a car where the driver had been drinking.

Let's solve the problems that exist. (They are real, and I don't mean to minimize them.) But no need to use drinking age or campus alcohol rules as the mechanism.