A growing list of university presidents and chancellors are signing their names on the Amethyst List. The Amethyst List is a call for both discussion and debate over the current legal drinking age in the United States, which is currently 21, and the possibility of lowering it. At this time, the list is 123 names strong, but no school in the state of Missouri has signed on.

Proponents of this list are not calling for immediate roll-back of the drinking age to 18, but they do call for an open discussion of current drinking-age policy and the implications it has on society.

And contributing institutions aren’t confined to rebellious, backwoods or anonymous schools; instead, the list includes leaders from such prestigious institutions as Dartmouth College, Duke University and Syracuse University.

A quick history lesson on the drinking age laws in the United States reads as such: In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in response to concerns voiced by the then newly formed group Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Whereas the Federal Government could not regulate the age alcohol consumption, they could exert financial muscle by tying Federal funds earmarked for highway dollars to drinking age legislation. As such, if a state did not raise the minimum age of alcohol consumption to 21, it would lose 10 percent of its federal highway dollars. This would mean states could lose millions-today, that figure would count into the billions-for the repair and construction of roads and highways.

MADD and the Centers for Disease Control have cited statistics to back the effectiveness of this legislation, saying that an estimated 19,100 lives have been saved due to the increase in drinking age. One study noted that decreasing the age to 18 resulted in a 10 percent decrease in alcohol related fatalities, most of these related to drunk driving.

Yet, what MADD and other organizations fail to recognize is the rise in binge drinking and consequent increase in deaths related to such activities. The CDC notes that approximately 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 years in the United States is in the form of binge drinking sessions. The proportion of current drinkers that binge is highest in the 18 to 20-year-old group. Approximately 1,400 binge-drinking related deaths occur per year, as well as a host of other accidents, assaults, and arrests related to binge drinking.

As I interpret it, we have substituted one problem for another without addressing the root of the issue.

Why can a person be drafted into the military at age 18, but not yet drink a draft beer? Why do we entrust 18-year-olds to make an informed decision when it comes to voting, but not to consuming a beer?

For years, 18 has been the magic number to become an adult-but not when it comes to alcohol.

The Amethyst Initiative wants to open up a dialogue to address this issue and the specific burden it places on institutions of higher learning across the U.S. In conjunction, a group named Choose Responsibility wants to make possible the lowering of the drinking age to 18 by the use of education and licenses.

In the United States, you have to acquire a license to hunt, fish, drive a car, practice medicine, operate a beauty salon and a variety of other activities. Currently there is legislation being crafted in the states of Kentucky, Wisconsin, South Carolina, South Dakota, Minnesota and Missouri to lower the drinking age in a variety of manners. One way is for persons aged 18-20 serving in the military, another is to buy at bars and restaurants but not liquor stores, while others want to lower it with no strings attached.

As the school year begins and parties start to rage, one has to wonder whether new students are responsible young adults ready to shoulder the burden of alcohol, or just children only ready to play dress-up.

One thing is for certain: If students are to have the luxury of a lower drinking age, they have to own up to the responsibility of consuming alcohol. Now is the time to start being responsible, doing our research and signing up for serious discussions. Then, our legislators may pass a law we like.

Lew Griffith is a Saint Louis University graduate Student.