Jordan Gerard/ Winonan
A Minnesota representative is proposing lowering the drinking age to 18, so what does this mean for a dry campus like Winona State University?
Representative Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis introduced two different bills One would allow 18-year-olds to legally drink in a restaurant or bar, and another bill would let 18-year-olds drink if a parent or guardian of legal age accompanies them.
Neither bill allows them to purchase alcohol from a liquor store.
Lynae Hahn, a community assistant at East Lake Apartments, said if the law passes, Winona State would remain a dry campus, but if the students want it to change they would have to start it.
“Any change to university policy would come from MnSCU,” Hahn said. “The students might have a say in that. If students started a campaign to get attention from the board, then they would consider. All MnSCU campuses are dry campuses.”
Hahn said she thought the dry campus policy would not be affected if the law passes.
“I don’t think it would have a huge impact because there’s already a market for underage drinking,” Hahn said.
Minnesota has seen multiple fluctuations in the drinking age within the last century.
The legal drinking age in Minnesota was 21 after the prohibition era, lowered to 18 in 1973, raised to 19 in 1976 and raised back to 21 in 1986, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
Hahn said personally she believes 18 as the drinking age is okay, because that is the legal age of adulthood, but there are arguments the brain is not fully developed until 25-years-old.
Others on the campus have mixed feelings about lowering the drinking age.
Senior social work major Ashley Provo, 22, said she thinks the law would cause more harm than good.
“They’re still teenagers, in that mentality, at that age,” Provo said. “I think more alcohol would be in the dorms because they can drink. It should just remain at 21.”
A senior in criminal justice, who wished to remain anonymous, said she agrees with the push to change the drinking age back to 18 because of the freedoms already given to people at this age.
“We can choose to buy tobacco, we can choose to die for our country, we can choose to get married and we are now legally considered adults, why can we not choose to drink a glass of wine with dinner,” she said.
She also said that changing to a wet campus would make drinking safer for students because it lessens the possibility of drinking and driving.
If the age is lowered to 18, she also said that she believes there will be more violations on campus if Winona State remains a dry campus.
“Generally if the age is lowered at all, alcohol awareness must be taught differently,” she said. “We are taught drinking is bad, dangerous and unhealthy. We are not taught what is responsible alcohol consumption is.”
