College For All—Or Else: For better or worse, a college degree is becoming an essential credential if you want to get the kind of job that can provide a middle class standard of living (before it's eventually outsourced somewhere else and/or your employer goes out of business). So when D.C. Council Chairman Kwame "Fully Loaded" Brown says he's trying to encourage more D.C. high school students to apply to higher education, it sounds like a good idea. It's Brown's specific solution that seems a bit muddled; the chairman wants to require students to take the SAT or ACT and fill out college applications in order to be eligible to graduate high school. Which means anyone who's not interested in college would also wind up lacking a high school diploma. Give Brown's plan an F.  -3

Acqua Gratuita: Consumers revolted last year against surcharges at Bank of America, Verizon Wireless, and other corporate behemoths. Is D.C. restaurant Elisir next on that list? The Italian joint has announced that it's rolling back the 29-cent-per-customer charge it used to impose for filtered water, replacing it with a choice of free tap water or a $3.95-per-table fee for bottled H2O. "It has occurred to us that our water policy is presently not meeting Elisir’s goals" of providing diners with good service, the restaurant says. It has occurred to us, meanwhile, that paying 29 cents for free water is pretty dumb. +1

Uberpriced: New smartphone-savvy luxury cab service Uber has made a flashy entrance into the D.C. market lately, ferrying local journalists to Graffiato for a lunch to preview their business (no one from Washington City Paper attended, so far as we know) and hitting social media outlets to promote itself. Which meant that on New Year's Eve, when regular cabs are hard to come by, there was plenty of demand for a fancier ride. Thanks to Uber's "surge pricing," though, fares went up. The company says it warned patrons in advance that would happen; surprisingly enough, by the time the bars closed in the wee hours of Jan. 1, people seemed to have forgotten that. -1

Fail, Victory: The Washington Redskins season ended not with a bang, but with a wimper, as the team marched up to Philadelphia to lose to the Eagles, 34-10, and finish the year 5-11. That's the worst record coach Mike Shanahan has ever had, in 17 full seasons. Perhaps as a result, he brought in some Navy SEALs and a Marine to the final meeting of the season; their mission was to inspire the players, not conquer them, as the rest of the NFL had more or less already accomplished that one. Meanwhile, on Jan. 26, it will be 20 years since the last time the Redskins won the Super Bowl. Can they draft Mark Rypien this spring? -2

Friday's Needle rating: 58 Today's score: -5 Today's Needle rating: 53

But where do local schools stand on the initiative's goal of lowering the drinking age?

The Amethyst Initiative bases their goal of rethinking the drinking age on the fact that the law, as it currently exists, is not working.  In fact, they claim it has been counterproductive, stating, “A culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge-drinking’—often conducted off-campus—has developed.”  Anyone who has been to a college campus can certainly agree with that.  While 21 year olds are able to go to bars and drink as little, and as slowly, as they choose, the majority of college students don’t have that luxury.  Instead, 18-20 years olds (read- Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors) are forced to drink on the sly, usually at a far more rapid (and dangerous) pace than their 21 year old counterparts.

As for D.C. schools, there does not appear to be any consensus.  The entire University of Maryland system, which includes UMD- College Park, has signed on to the Initiative’s petition.  George Washington University, through new President Steven Knapp, appears to be hedging, at least for now.  In the GW Hatchet, Knapp explains, "I would like to have a fuller study and discussion with my staff before deciding if this is the best way to approach the issue of underage alcohol consumption.”  However, he does add, “A lower drinking age would mean more traffic fatalities and, frankly, a rise in the overall consumption of alcohol.”

Other area schools are more blatant in their disagreement with the Initiative.  Howard University is a dry campus, and does not support the Amethyst Initiative.  American University will not be signing-  school President Neil Kerwin questions, to the American University Eagle, whether lowering the drinking age will “deter the epidemic of destructive behavior prompted by alcohol abuse that we’ve seen on our own campus.” Georgetown will not be signing on, either, citing the University’s focus on health and safety concerns.  Curiously, Georgetown President John DeGioia adds, to the Georgetown Hoya,“We’re a nation at war, we’re having some real difficulties with our economy. There are just a range of issues on which I could offer my perspective and my engagement, and I just feel that right now my priorities have to be placed elsewhere.”   Maybe we can wish that one day, President DeGioia can find a couple of minutes to involve himself in an issue that directly affects the safety of his students.

Despite the various Universities’ skepticism, the sad fact remains- binge drinking is a significant and growing problem on college campuses.  And being a dry campus, though maybe ideal, does not absolve any school from its responsibility in stemming the tide of the binge drinking epidemic that has enveloped college life.  In fact, the two ideas- being a dry campus and advocating a public discourse on the drinking age- are not mutually exclusive.  There is no conflict in discussing a drinking age law and still prohibiting alcohol on campus.  Finally, this is far too important an issue for schools to be so cautious.  George Washington University’s non-answer answer is frustrating, and as a current student of the school, I think I deserve better.  Georgetown’s health and safety concerns should be applauded, but as the goal of the initiative is to curb the effects of binge drinking, there's no reason not to engage the idea.