Photo by tupton on Flickr.

UMD College Park President C.D. Mote Jr. has joined the growing chorus of college presidents who support returning the drinking age to 18, DCist reports. I agree with this, both because it’s rational public policy (it will probably reduce binge drinking) and because having an arbitrary line you cross in the middle of college (rather than before or after) is silly and unfair.

More relevant to this blog, though, I wonder what effect a change would have on our neighborhoods near residential colleges, like Foggy Bottom/West End, Georgetown, eastern Columbia Heights, or AU Park/Tenleytown. We’ve discussed how the West End lacks a strong sense of community, though that’s clearly not a problem in Georgetown.

If students could legally drink, they’d probably patronize more bars near their campuses. Besides the inevitable tensions with neighbors, might it also lead to more participation in the community as a whole? Or, perhaps if neighborhood retail strips are flooded with students, it would drive others away and harm community? Or, since there are already lots of students who want to go to bars, would it not change much at all?

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.