THE PENDULUM

by Rebecca Smith, October 27, 2009

Responsibility, education, leadership.

These are three traits often used to describe Elon students, and they are the goals of a new initiative, launched by Choose Responsibility, called Get REAL. The initiative aims at student body presidents and offers student leaders to carry on alcohol education, promote safe behavior and continue the debate on the legal drinking age.

Last week, Elon's Student Government President Justin Peterson signed the initiative. Peterson's signature on the initiative will not change the day to day life of Elon students, but could eventually lead to more discussions at Elon on lowering the legal drinking age.

Recent statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reveal the problem of toxic drinking is worsening on campuses nationwide. Between 1998 and 2005, rates of binge drinking and unintentional alcohol-related deaths among the 18-24 aged college population increased.

Another recent study from researchers at the University of Minnesota identified 18 heavy-drinking schools and tracked survey results of alcohol-related problems on those campuses in 1993 and 2005, with little or no improvement during the 12-year period.

Choose Responsibility, which is a nonprofit organization created to initiate discussions about alcohol and young people ages 18-20, contacted student body presidents at the beginning of the fall. The initiative was launched during National College Alcohol Awareness Week, which took place Oct. 17-23.

"We see this movement as similar to the Amethyst Initiative," said Nick DeSantis, a staff assistant for Choose Responsibility. "Our goal with this campaign was to take the next step and involve student body presidents."

According to DeSantis, the intention of the initiative is to get presidents to talk to one another.

"They can talk about which policies work and which won't," he said. "They can get the attention of administration officials and take students into account. Student presidents occupy a pretty unique place in terms of campus life. The people that voted for them are the ones being affected by rules on campuses. They are pretty powerful voices."

Get REAL charges students to make responsible decisions, to ensure friends who have consumed too much alcohol receive medical attention and to never mix different types of alcohol when drinking. It calls for campus administrators to create a campus environment that is safe for all students, provide alcohol education and prevention programs and engage in dialogue about the legal drinking age and its impact.

The initiative also asks selected officials to recognize the consequences of the legal drinking age and consider alternatives to a legal drinking age of 21 that could create a safer environment on college campuses.

Get REAL signatories are not the first people to demand a discussion about toxic drinking and the drinking age. In August 2008, 135 college and university presidents signed the Amethyst Initiative, a public statement advocating a debate about the intended and unintended consequences of the legal drinking age of 21 on campuses nationwide.

President Leo Lambert did not sign this initiative.

"I thought about the initiative for a while, and the biggest thing was that Elon President Lambert did not sign the Amethyst Initiative," Peterson said. "The thing that made me make up my mind was realizing (my) role is not to represent the administration, but my role is to represent the students. I feel this is what the students want."

The initiative states the legal drinking age of 21 has made college campuses more dangerous because instead of eliminating alcohol use for those younger than 21, drinking has been pushed into secretive settings where there is an increased chance of injury, sexual assault and alcohol poisoning.

"I think that alcohol and how to promote smart behavior and a safe environment should always be discussed," Peterson said. "Elon is doing a lot in order to encourage smart behavior on campus."