Although the legal drinking age has recently become a public debate across the country, lowering the age at which Americans can legally drink is not necessarily the answer to combat binge drinking, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment and student life.
Northeastern is currently engaged in two major national studies concerning alcohol consumption, Mantella said. The results show students over the legal drinking age are more likely to binge drink than underage students.
“The evidence suggests that [lowering the drinking age] does not alleviate underage drinking, and it doesn’t change the drinking behavior between 18 to 21-year-olds,” Mantella said.
She said that Northeastern’s research and studies concerning alcohol consumption revealed students over 21 binge drink nine percent more than students under 21.
College presidents from more than 100 schools throughout the country have signed a petition labeled the Amethyst Initiative, which began circulating last year, asking lawmakers to consider lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18, according to local media reports.
Since July, 129 college presidents, including those from Endicott College, Nichols College and Dartmouth College, have signed this petition.
However, Mantella said that what drives students to binge drink is not the drinking age, but the campus culture, Mantella said.
“It’s a problem on all college campuses,” she said.
Andrew Lavenson, a 19-year-old business marketing major, said he supports lowering the drinking age is a good idea, does not think curb binge drinking.
“The positive effects of lowering the drinking age would be less college drinking problems,” Lavenson said. “However, I feel that having a drinking age at all glorifies drinking into a situation where people feel the need to drink a lot before they are of age.”
There are a variety of things that can be done to impact and combat this behavior, such as putting restrictions on alcohol retail and the amount of stores that sell alcohol in the area, Mantella said.
Northeasterns’ campus programming has lowered binge drinking levels, Mantella said, and “social norm” posters will be produced to tell students the real truth, hazards and consequences about drinking on campus.
The issue is not whether or not to make drinking more or less illegal, but how to combat binge drinking altogether, said Felix Pizzi, an Alcohol and Other Drug Counselor at Northeastern University’s Health and Counseling Services.
“Age doesn’t really seem to have a clause effect. It’s not something that you can make more legal so it can be less abused,” Pizzi said. “People seem to abuse alcohol regardless of the age they can drink [legally].”
The most effective way to stop or control binge drinking is through prevention and indication by informing students about alcohol abuse and appropriate alcohol use, Pizzi said.
Abby Hawkins, a 21-year-old English and sociology major, said lowering the drinking age would remove the fascination with binge drinking.
“I think it will get worse before it gets better. A lot of students will hear they don’t have to wait until they’re 21 and, since alcohol still has this glamour about it, will go into excess,” Hawkins said.
Binge drinking has a number of consequences, said Amaura Kemmerer, a counselor at the Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern (O.P.E.N).
O.P.E.N., provides “self-check” services for students around alcohol and other drug use situations, Kemmerer said.
“Some negative effects that arise from heavy alcohol use include injuries, assaults, blackouts, making risky decisions about sex, academic problems, drunk driving, damaging property, police involvement and development of alcohol abuse or addiction,” Kemmerer said.
The O.P.E.N. website explains how students can meet with staff members to discuss their experiences with drinking on campus, and receive personalized feedback comparing them with other Northeastern students’ drinking habits.
Other countries with much lower drinking ages or none at all don’t have as much of a problem with binge drinking as in the United States, said Nick Geotis, a 20-year-old computer science major.
Geotis attributed their success to the lack of novelty associated with alcohol in those countries.
Mantella said Northeastern’s role in the fight against binge drinking is important.
“What is important is Northeastern has had two major grants and contributed to the body of research on [binge drinking] and is trying different things to see what has an impact in a positive way,” Mantella said.