SSU president open to lowering legal drinking age

Sonoma State University’s president suggested on Wednesday that he would be receptive to the possibility of lawmakers lowering the legal drinking age, a move that would have a profound effect on a campus where underage boozing is strictly prohibited.

Ruben Armiñana’s comments were in response to about 100 university presidents who are urging a national debate on whether the legal drinking age of 21 should be lowered to try to curb binge drinking on their campuses.

Armiñana said he supports having that discussion, and setting a “minimum” adult age at which “all activities related to adulthood should be available.”

Armiñana did not respond to a request asking him to clarify what age he thinks that should be. But other comments he made, in which he appeared to lean toward supporting a younger drinking age, are significant given the university’s current hard-line stance on underage imbibing.

They also potentially place Armiñana at odds with Charles Reed, chancellor of the 23-campus California State University system, who through a spokesman on Wednesday reiterated his opposition to a younger drinking age.

“The CSU opposes lowering the legal drinking age because alcohol is the leading cause of death among teenagers and highway crashes,” said Erik Fallis, a public affairs staff member in the chancellor’s office.

Robert Agrella, president of Santa Rosa Junior College, said he, too, is against a younger drinking age.

“I don’t think lowering the age assists individuals in any way,” Agrella said. “It’s probably old-fashioned, from my perspective.”

State law prohibits alcohol from being served or consumed on the junior college campus except in limited circumstances.

At Sonoma State, beer and wine can be purchased at the pub or during special events with prior approval from administrators.

The backers of the so-called Amethyst Initiative, which include the presidents Duke, Ohio State, Dartmouth and other high-profile universities, intended to spark debate on the hot-button issue of underage drinking.

These presidents contend that the current legal age of 21 “is not working,” and that it has “created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on their campuses.”

Though the initiative does not explicitly call for a younger drinking age, it does note that while adults under 21 can vote and enlist in the military, they “are told they are not mature enough to have a beer.”

“By choosing to use fake IDs,” the document states, “students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law.”

Eric Kenner, a student at Sonoma State, said he made essentially the same argument in a column he wrote for his high school newspaper. The difference now is that he has the support of some prominent people.

“I’ve never heard of an adult of such magnitude in agreement with me on this,” Kenner, a 20-year-old energy management major, said Wednesday.

He was among several college students who supported a lower drinking age, saying doing so would decriminalize a popular behavior and lower the risks of overindulging by making drinking less seductive.

Making people wait until they are 21 to legally consume is “causing people to go behind closed doors and underground in their drinking,” Kenner said. “That’s where the problems start. People think they are cool because they are breaking the law, and they do stupid things.”

Eva Oliver, an SSU student who turns 21 on Saturday, was generally supportive of lowering the drinking age to 18, so long as it does not coincide with any laws that require teens to wait until they are 18 to drive, which she called a bad combination.

Her birthday plans, which include going to a Cotati bar at midnight Friday, followed by a full day of wine tasting on Saturday and pizza and beer that night, speak to alcohol’s allure.

“I grew up in the wine country of Calaveras County and had a small glass of wine with dinner,” she said.

“I’m really excited to go tasting for the first time.”

In his written responses, Armiñana noted that in his native Cuba, drinking alcohol was “no big deal” because there was no age limit on imbibing.

Lowering the drinking age in California, he said, “probably will not decrease the level of consumption right away, but it would take away some of the illegal aspects of it.

“When the food is no longer forbidden, it might not be as desirable,” he added.

For now, though, he said SSU “rigorously” enforces rules against underage drinking.

Students who live in the dorms, for instance, are prohibited from being in the presence of alcohol, much less consuming it. Punishments at a minimum include students having to attend counseling sessions to discuss their drinking. More severe penalties include suspension and expulsion.

The vast majority of disciplinary actions taken against students involve drugs or alcohol, according to Mack Olson, the university’s judicial affairs director.

He said he does not believe lowering the drinking age will lead to more responsible behavior.

“I really think that’s a facile way of looking at it,” he said. “There are other issues at hand.”

The Amethyst Initiative has drawn sharp criticism from groups including Students Against Drunk Driving, which issued a statement Wednesday reiterating its opposition to a younger legal drinking age.

Such a move, the organization stated, could lead to high school students being able to drink legally.

“According to SADD’s Teens Today research,” the agency stated, “students in grades 6-12 ranked the drinking age as the number one reason why they choose not to use alcohol.”

Sesalie Amos, a 16-year-old sophomore at Montgomery High School, where students who attend dances can be forced to take breathalyzer tests as a condition of entry, said she wants the current laws to stand.

“I see a lot of underage people drinking when they’re not supposed to, and they try to drive,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.