College Cannot Ignore Legal Drinking Age

To the editors:

I read with delight that Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 is looking into setting up a task force to help prevent and reduce binge drinking on campus (News, “New Committee Will Examine Alcohol Abuse,” Oct. 16). This is an issue that the Cambridge License Commission has been involved with for over nine years, working on prevention with the business and college communities in Cambridge. We look forward to working with this task force to address the problems of binge drinking as well as the social problems that come out of alcohol abuse.

What I found disheartening in the lengthy article in The Crimson was the fact that there was little mention that for persons under 21, there is no responsible drinking. The only responsible behavior for those under 21 is not drinking at all—it is illegal for those individuals to drink. This is a fact well known throughout the state but continuously ignored. For a task force to talk about responsible drinking for minors is irresponsible.

Alcohol abuse is a problem that exists not only on Harvard’s campus, but also on campuses throughout the state. Currently, whether individuals agree with it or not, the legal drinking age is 21. This should be addressed along with other health and social problems being discussed by this task force. There is no task force on any college campus that I’m aware of that tries to teach responsible marijuana smoking, which is also illegal. Why should there be a task force to teach responsible drinking to a segment of the population to whom this would be illegal?

Not that I believe that underage drinking does not exist, but it should not be condoned either by the administration or the City of Cambridge. We will do whatever we can to prevent underage drinking, as we have in the past when we presented the non-alcoholic “Battle of the Bands” event at the House of Blues. This event, which was won by a Harvard band, was widely attended by both MIT and Harvard students. The winning band earned the opportunity to headline a major act at the former House of Blues. Here at the License Commission, we believe that events such as these, along with other alternatives to drinking, are one way to teach and prevent binge drinking and to educate the students about what is legally permissible within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I look forward to working with this task force, but the fact that it is illegal for individuals under 21 to drink alcohol cannot be ignored, overlooked or brushed under the table. It must be addressed openly and honestly.

Benjamin C. Barnes

Oct. 23, 2003

The writer is chair of the Cambridge License Commission.