Sewanee Picks as Its Next President an Activist on Drinking-Age Reform

Sewanee: the University of the South announced yesterday that its next president and vice chancellor would be John M. McCardell Jr., president of Middlebury College from 1992 to 2004, who in the last few years has led a campaign to lower the drinking age to 18 based on the premise that the current age — 21 — has been a failure and only contributed to binge drinking, Mr. McCardell began the effort in 2007 by founding Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit group that suggested giving “drinking licenses” to 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds who had been educated about the dangers of alcohol. He later helped found the Amethyst Initiative, an effort to lower the drinking age that more than 100 college presidents have endorsed. According to a Sewanee news release, Mr. McCardell, who is also a professor of American history, will step down as president of Choose Responsibility before he takes office next July, but will continue working to further its goals.