News Analysis: Will Drinking-Age Fight Elevate Role of University Leaders?
By PAUL FAIN
College presidents have long gotten flak for refusing to take controversial stands on national issues. Some say the bold presidents of the past, like the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and William C. Friday, have been replaced by timid fund raisers.
But this week a large group of presidents kicked off an emotionally charged national debate on the drinking age. In doing so, they triggered an avalanche of news-media coverage and a fierce backlash.
While the criticism may sting, the prime-time fracas may help elevate the role of college presidents as public figures.
The uproar began on Monday, when news broke that 100 college chiefs, including leaders of several prominent institutions, had joined a campaign urging that "it's time to rethink the drinking age." The month-old effort, dubbed the Amethyst Initiative, seeks an "informed and dispassionate" debate over the effects of having the legal drinking age at 21, which the presidents say can contribute to binge drinking.
The response has hardly been dispassionate.
"Parents should think twice before sending their teens to these colleges or any others that have waved the white flag on underage- and binge-drinking policies," said Laura Dean-Mooney, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in a widely quoted news release.
Some lawmakers and health experts have piled on heated criticism, with some questioning the right of college presidents to lead the debate. Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley, told a newspaper that because presidents earn six-figure salaries and charge tuition, they have a "legal and moral responsibility" to provide a safe environment for students.
Perhaps no president has taken more heat over the campaign than William G. Durden of Dickinson College. Mr. Durden helped draft the group's statement with its founder, John M. McCardell Jr., president emeritus of Middlebury College.
Dickinson was blasted on Thursday by Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, who was quoted in a front-page story in The Washington Post as saying: "I'm an alumnus of Dickinson College and can't believe they signed on to this initiative."
While Mr. Durden says he respects his critics, he bristles at the question of whether he has overreached by weighing in on the drinking age.
"I think we are fed up," he says. "We are asserting ourselves in our backyard."
Standing Up
Higher education has received more scrutiny in recent years, with much of it focusing on the rising cost of college. Alcohol-related problems contribute to those rising costs, Mr. Durden says. Dickinson and other colleges spend substantial sums on police departments, outreach to parents, and alcohol education and counseling.
"This all adds up in time, energy, and money," says Mr. Durden.
He and other Amethyst Initiative supporters have complained that their message has been distorted. Rather than just provoking a debate, they have been depicted as sloughing off liability in their pursuit of a younger drinking age. But Mr. Durden says the effort has been worth the risk.
"If we as college presidents are intimidated by this, what does that say as an example to our students?" he says.
But there's a reason why campus leaders often shy away from controversy. No president wants to provoke the anger of donors and politicians. And university chiefs have stumbled at times in the harsh light of a news-media feeding frenzy. Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard University's former president, could not apologize his way out of the mess he created by commenting on women's aptitude in math and science. And Columbia University's president, Lee C. Bollinger, had a rough time dealing with last year's campus speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But some leaders in higher education think the drinking-age discussion could be good for college presidents.
Among several high-profile presidents who decided not to join the Amethyst Initiative is Donna E. Shalala at the University of Miami. Ms. Shalala says she "respectfully dissents" and believes that the current drinking age is sound policy. But Ms. Shalala, who served as the Clinton administration's secretary of health and human services, says it is appropriate for college chiefs to lead the debate.
"I absolutely approve of them speaking out," she says.
Other presidents who took a pass on the campaign echoed Ms. Shalala in praising its leaders. France A. Córdova, Purdue University's president, says in a written statement that she supports the dialogue initiated by the group.
Ms. Shalala says university presidents have for many years been "too weak" on national policy issues. "We have not seen ourselves as leaders of society."
Yet more college chiefs appear willing to take on Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the other pugnacious foes of the Amethyst Initiative. Since Monday, 20 more presidents have joined the campaign, bringing the total number to 123.