Wesleyan university - 12 kids hospitalized for drug overdose

[Anonymous]

Its a very crunchy liberal school, has always been known as such albeit an academic one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wes alum here who didn't like the drugs. The academics are great actually - excellent profs with small classes (most classes under twenty, my "survey" classes were around 30 to 40). The kids are smart, work hard, intellectual, and for the most part take their studies seriously. But yeah, a lot of drugs. The majority didn't do drugs regularly but there was a significant minority who did and that clouded up the air for the rest of us.

I just think if a kid want so breathe drug free air, she should be the priority, not the pot smoker....no idea if things have changed.

+100

It shouldn't minimize the issue at all but if you asked me to guess 3 schools that this would happen at I would say Wes, Reed or UC Santa Cruz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Wesleyan is a great school. That said, it's vibe and politics haven't changed since the 70's. Why on earth did you choose Wes? Hope you have developed some common sense since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Doesn't surprise me, Wesleyan has been kind of hippie/crunchy since at least the 70s, so you get administrators and alumni who were druggies back in the day, and who don't want to interfere with the next generation of users.

Not unique to Wesleyan but the liberal politics and open drug use there is what tends to distinguish it from Amherst and Williams. You don't go there for a cuter town or better academics.

Poster don't disagree with your commentary but then why is Wesleyan so highly rated and so difficult to get in? Is the competition that fierce amongst the druggies???? Doesn't seem to be logical.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the students arrests is from Bethesda.

Yeah, he had such a bright future,
as a physician. Lovely.

[Anonymous]

I went to Wesleyan in the 90s too and didn't encounter drug use (though I wasn't seeking it out either). Academically it was an amazing place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Wesleyan is a great school. That said, it's vibe and politics haven't changed since the 70's. Why on earth did you choose Wes? Hope you have developed some common sense since.

Yeah, it was a dumb choice for me. I liked that it had a rep for being liberal but I didn't realize HOW liberal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to wesleyan in the 90s.

I had asthma and was forced to breathe in secondhand pot smoke 24-7 (living on campus is required). I complained to Res Life, Public Safety, the infirmary where I wound up spending some nights due to the pot smoke - and no one cared. The administration blatantly allowed people to smoke pot in the dorms. They sided with the pot smokers, not me.

Wesleyan is a great school. That said, it's vibe and politics haven't changed since the 70's. Why on earth did you choose Wes? Hope you have developed some common sense since.

Yeah, it was a dumb choice for me. I liked that it had a rep for being liberal but I didn't realize HOW liberal.

Ps. I considered transferring but thought it was really great academically so didn't.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a current student and despite last week's tragedy, it is a wonderful school. Wesleyan has excellent professors, small classes, and intelligent and interesting students. Yes you can find drugs if you want them. That is the case at most schools. A culture of tolerance is less scary to me than a culture of frats, binge drinking, and athlete worship.

[Anonymous]

I think all those clucking about terrible, liberal Wesleyan have no idea how much dangerous drinking goes on at other schools, and how kids are hospitalized with alcohol poisoning every weekend. I don't have a child at Wesleyan but I do know it is a difficult school to get into and has a lot of bright, ambitious students. College students everywhere do dumb things. If its too liberal for your child, your child should look elsewhere.

Nothing to see here, move along.

[Anonymous]

Agree that the issue of drug abuse in universities is widespread, and that Wes should not be, singularly, stigmatized for this having happened.

But things are way more dangerous now than they were in the 1970's - 1980's (years which some of us parents still remember)

Hospital admissions and deaths from meth, amphetamine-like designer drugs, "bath salts", ketamine, and other potentially fatal hard drugs are soaring, and in some places overwhelm the hospitals' emergency room departments. That has the effect of draining resources that would have gone into treating patients for more typical emergency conditions.

In this particular instance it was not "Oh, some students bought some drugs, what else is new?" type of situation.
This was a systematic activity, in which it was an "open secret" that group of students sold drugs out of their dorm rooms every evening from 5pm - 9pm.
With no intervention, despite students having previously been put in the hospital by overdoses from the same dealers last September.

All four of the dealers face multiple criminal charges, all of them have at least one felony on their court docket. And we expect the State to bring additional charges as the investigation develops. If the one student who is still in a coma in Hartford Hospital had died, then they would be looking at something like involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide.

Well, I think it's safe to say that none of these sociopathic dealer students ought to get into medical school. If they get expelled then the public will be protected from them in the future. Or if they are convicted on any of the felonies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Agree that the issue of drug abuse in universities is widespread, and that Wes should not be, singularly, stigmatized for this having happened.

But things are way more dangerous now than they were in the 1970's - 1980's (years which some of us parents still remember)

Hospital admissions and deaths from meth, amphetamine-like designer drugs, "bath salts", ketamine, and other potentially fatal hard drugs are soaring, and in some places overwhelm the hospitals' emergency room departments. That has the effect of draining resources that would have gone into treating patients for more typical emergency conditions.

In this particular instance it was not "Oh, some students bought some drugs, what else is new?" type of situation.
This was a systematic activity, in which it was an "open secret" that group of students sold drugs out of their dorm rooms every evening from 5pm - 9pm.
With no intervention, despite students having previously been put in the hospital by overdoses from the same dealers last September.

All four of the dealers face multiple criminal charges, all of them have at least one felony on their court docket. And we expect the State to bring additional charges as the investigation develops. If the one student who is still in a coma in Hartford Hospital had died, then they would be looking at something like involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide.

Well, I think it's safe to say that none of these sociopathic dealer students ought to get into medical school. If they get expelled then the public will be protected from them in the future. Or if they are convicted on any of the felonies

Way off base to call these students sociopaths. You don't seem to know what that word means. Not to mention they may not be guilty. There are a lot of rumors going around that the school was so quick to find someone accountable that they rounded up students who are not guilty. Lets see what happens. Clearly the school and authorities are taking this seriously, as they should, so we don't have to play judge and jury.

Plus if you are going to rant about hospitalization for drugs you can't ignore that there are far more hospitalizations and deaths associated with alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a current student and despite last week's tragedy, it is a wonderful school. Wesleyan has excellent professors, small classes, and intelligent and interesting students. Yes you can find drugs if you want them. That is the case at most schools. A culture of tolerance is less scary to me than a culture of frats, binge drinking, and athlete worship.

You call a friendly climate for drug abuse a "culture of tolerance"? What kind of Orwellian, politically-correct-speak is that?

[Anonymous]

You have no idea what you're talking about. A couple hundred kids have been caught, disciplined, and referred for counseling/treatment. Some have been suspended and expelled. The school is open about their issues rather than trying to cover them up (i.e. Vanderbilt, FSU, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all those clucking about terrible, liberal Wesleyan have no idea how much dangerous drinking goes on at other schools, and how kids are hospitalized with alcohol poisoning every weekend. I don't have a child at Wesleyan but I do know it is a difficult school to get into and has a lot of bright, ambitious students. College students everywhere do dumb things. If its too liberal for your child, your child should look elsewhere.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Pp here - wes alum who hated the drug abuse. Yes, widespread binge drinking really wasn't as common at wes compared to other places I think.