A public statement in favor of lowering the 21-year-old drinking age called the Amethyst Initiative has been signed by 129 college presidents, but because of the proposal's supposed misleading intentions, Miami University President David Hodge's pen didn't give the document a single drop.

"Let me be very clear, I'm not opposed to having a great conversation about the effect of the age limit … but the Amethyst resolution (…) asserted that the problem was the 21 age limit," Hodge said. "The wording of it was a sham."

According to its Web site, the Amethyst Initiative was spearheaded in July by Middlebury College President Emeritus John McCardell after soliciting opinions on the drinking age and concluding that "that the 21 year-old drinking age is not working, and, specifically, that it has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on (signatories') campuses."

So far, the petition has been signed by the presidents and chancellors at notable institutions like Dartmouth College, Duke University and Johns Hopkins University. The heads of three Ohio colleges: Kenyon College, Columbus School of Art and Design and Ohio State have signed it as well.

Hodge disagrees with McCardell that the 21-year-old drinking age is the cause of binge drinking on college campuses, and after reading the petition, took offense to the Initiative's claim that it would "support an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age."

According to Hodge, the initiative wasn't about fostering discussion on the issue but asserting the opinion that the 21-year-old age limit is wrong.

"I'm not saying categorically that we shouldn't lower the drinking age, I think it's worthy of discussion," Hodge said. "The resolution, frankly, I'm embarrassed that it would be written in the way it was. It was deceptively presented."

The petition itself, publicly available on amethystinitiative.org, is outlined under three major headlines, which read "It's time to rethink the drinking age," "Twenty-one is not working," and "How many times must we relearn the lessons of prohibition?"

Despite the assertion, many high-profile educators, including Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead, did sign the petition.

"The current law has not prevented alcohol from being available, and drinking is widespread at all American colleges, and at younger ages as well," Brodhead is quoted as saying on the Amethyst Initiative Web site. "But at colleges and universities, the law does have other effects: it pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks, including risks from drunken driving; and it prevents us from addressing drinking with students as an issue of responsible choice."

Hodge said he sees the issue another way.

"I just don't buy the argument that because it's taboo people are binge drinking," Hodge said. "I see a lot of people over the age of 21 doing stupid drinking. I think there are other things more important than the age limit to drinking responsibly."

This is not the first time Hodge has gone on the record about his decision to not sign the Amethyst Initiative. On Sunday, an editorial he wrote titled "Dropping to 18 brings in too much risky behavior" ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Hodge points out that more than half of the students entering college have already begun drinking illegally. He agrees with "most experts in the field" who say that lowering the drinking age to 18 would increase alcohol abuse in high schools.

"Knowing this, I find it very difficult to responsibly advocate for lowering the age limit for alcohol consumption, and I reject the assertions made by the Amethyst Initiative," he wrote.

If the Initiative does not call for the drinking age to be lowered to 18, Hodge said there would be several logistical problems on where to draw the line.

"Is it to 19 or 18? Is it for 19, of drinks with certain alcohol percentage? All these things are questions worthy of some pretty significant conversation," he said.

Dean of students Susan Mosley-Howard also agrees that the Amethyst Initiative can spur dialogue, but it is one-sided and comes only to the conclusion that the drinking age is too high.

Although Mosley-Howard said she believes alcohol abuse at Miami is no better or worse than any other college campus, she did see definite consequences for lowering the drinking age nationwide.

"Policymakers can do what they wish, but I would hope they would look at the research we have," she said. "Now that we know the drinking culture begins before college … I would assume that that culture of drinking would start earlier and earlier, which is certainly a huge concern."

Mosley-Howard also did not believe Miami should have signed the petition just because 129 schools did.

"We are not followers at Miami, we encourage our students not to be followers," she said. "We value a healthy and safe environment for our students, we look at research before we make any policy decision … just because 200 (or) 100 institutions sign on doesn't mean we necessarily have to sign on. That goes against the grain of what it means to be a scholar."

Assistant Vice President of Student Health Services Gail Walenga also sided with her fellow administrators on the drinking age debate.

Walenga, who was at the University of Southern California (USC) before coming to Miami in January, said that consequences from alcohol abuse differ from campus to campus.

"(Amethyst's) argument focuses on (the drinking age) having not impacted drunk driving the way we think it could," she said. "What they don't talk about is the risk underage drinking entails when it comes to acts of violence … and unwanted sexual behavior and sexual assault."

Walenga said violent acts related to drinking are very dangerous to a centralized campus like Miami's, as compared to an urban campus like USC where students may be more savvy about walking in groups at night.

Walenga also provided statistics from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs dismissing the claim that Europeans drink in moderation.

"European teenagers drink more alcohol more often than their American counterparts, and get drunk more frequently, as well," the study says. "Data on youths ages 15-16 from 35 European countries showed that every nation in Europe except Turkey had higher teen binge-drinking rates than the U.S."

Despite these claims, most Miami students interviewed were in support of lowering the drinking age in some way.

"I don't think it makes any sense that you can go to war and vote at 18, but not drink at 18," sophomore Christyna Genovese said.

However, lowering the drinking age still leaves some students with reservations.

"If you lowered the drinking age to 18, the high schools would get pissed," senior Ross Faulkner said.

Freshman Ryan Bucheit agreed.

"It sounds good in theory, but they might not get the aim they want to get (by lowering the drinking age)," he said.

Although Hodge has said he is open to discussion of the issue and wrestles with many opposing views of his own, he says the opportunity for an open discussion on the drinking age does not come along often.

"I haven't seen that many serious efforts; this is the most serious effort I've seen in quite a long time," he said.

The entire transcript of The Miami Student's interview with President Hodge, including his reactions to several different arguments for lowering the drinking age, is in Friday's Campus section .

To listen to the interview with Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard, go to http://www.miamistudent.net/podcasts/oncampus .