Senate passes resolution to lower drinking age to 18

By Paul Biasco

The Illinois Student Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night urging the Illinois General Assembly to re-examine the state’s minimum drinking age.

The resolution references 18 as the minimum age to vote, enlist in the military, purchase tobacco and receive an abortion without parental consent.

The resolution also notes that several states, including Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin, have begun to reconsider the 21-year-old drinking age.

Having passed in the senate, the student body president must deliver copies of the resolution to members of the University administration, the Governor’s Office, every member of the Illinois General Assembly and the Secretary of State, among others.

The resolution must also be sent to student governments at other Illinois and Big Ten colleges, as well as most major Illinois-based newspapers and radio stations.

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A landlord resolution also passed in the senate that urges the governments of Champaign, Urbana and Savoy to prevent renters from signing a lease until the second week in February. A similar law has been put into practice in Madison, Wis., and Ann Arbor, Mich., that restricts renters from signing a lease until 90 days before the start of the lease.

Tenant Union coordinator Esther Patt supported the resolution, which was authored by Jaclyn O’Day, junior in LAS.

The purpose of the resolution is to prevent problems that occur when students sign their leases far in advance. O’Day said that this could harm students who decide to transfer or switch roommates before their lease starts.