These folks don't want the responsibility of policing the binge drinking on their campuses which results in deaths, rapes, assaults, property damage, and disorderly conduct.
However, the public health research has demonstrated that raising the drinking age to 21 and enforcing strictly underage drinking and driving laws saves 864 lives of people 20 and under in the United States every year. That's a lot of kids.
There was an interesting article in the Winter, 2009 issue of the newsletter from the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse which describes these findings.
Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.
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The research has also indicated that those lives saved in the 18-20 category weren't actually saved. They were just shifted to the 21-24 age bracket and are more easily explained by increased safety controls like seat belts and better enforcement as well as systemic stigmatization of Drunk Driving (Dee & Evans -http://www.youthrights.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=108). The problem of irresponsible drinking is not something that can be made to go away simply by making it illegal. The current drinking age serves no purpose other than to imprison America's younger population for status offenses.
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