Debating the national drinking age

Is 21 the optimal drinking age? That question is a constant debate at Universities around the country and the New York Times has decided to take its hand at the debate.

The Times brought six debaters in to talk about the idea of lowering the drinking age from 21 years old, with the six columns split on the subject. Author Gabrielle Glaser was one of the few that advocated for lowering it to 18 years old, mentioning how the current drinking age leads to riskier binge drinking as a more common setting.

Meanwhile, multiple other columnists said to keep the national drinking age at 21 years old, citing the possible consequences of crime or increased drunk driving.Former Kenyon College President S. Georgia Nugent said raising the age to 21 in the first place was disaster while another columnist took the interesting position of lowering the age to 19 years old. 

All of this comes on the heels of Dartmouth's ban of hard alcohol at parties and Brown's revamping of its alcohol policy in recent weeks. 

For the whole New York Times series, check here. 

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