Shocking Penn State hazing incident

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a huge contributing factor to these horrible binge drinking nightmares is our country's puritanical views on alcohol. We create a restrictive and punitive situation around drinking by having one of the most conservative set of alcohol laws in the world. It creates an environment where drinking is the forbidden fruit and it must be consumed as much as possible, as quickly as possible. If anything goes wrong, don't seek help because you will get in trouble. If the bystanders in this situation didn't have so much to lose, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Being drunk at 20 or being 21 and buying a keg for a party where freshman attend will get you expelled, cited, or even arrested does not create an environment where doing the right thing is encouraged. I'm not advocating serving your 5th grader merlot at dinner, but maybe we need to rethink the rigidity of our laws and rules around alcohol.

College students binge drink in dorms and frat houses before heading out for the night where they will be refused alcohol without an impeccable fake ID. Or they come home after a night of sober partying with a scarlett letter stamp of "under 21" and try and catch up with their peers at an after party.

For the same reason DCUM blasts sanctimommies for forbidding their snowflake cake at birthday parties, this shit is backfiring. We set college students up for 3+ years of covert instant gratification instead of transitioning them into the freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood.

This is soooo true! We need a kind of "amnesty" for anyone turning in a drinking problem. I remember being at college (also in PA, but not at PSU) when the first crack downs on underage drinking were running through campuses in PA. I saw firsthand under age kids scared to "help" a friend for fear of getting in trouble themselves.

[Anonymous]

We can learn from this--

Parents-- don't hover so much when they are younger. Let them make smaller mistakes and learn!

Teach your kids compassion.

Teach your kids that kids that force you to do stupid crap are not your friends.

Teach your kids the "buddy system"-- always have at least one REAL friend that will look out for you.

Don't put so much focus on being "cool" and doing "anything" to be "cool."

Teach your kids to make the HARD decisions and tell them that you will back them up if they make a tough decision and it leaves to ramifications (even legal ones).

DO NOT LET YOUR MONEY GO TO A SCHOOL THAT HAS SUCH A POOR TRACK RECORD!!!

Talk to your teens about this story. My teens and I talked about it several times-- from several angles: Tim, the bystanders, the people that got the alcohol, the parents....

[Anonymous]

Penn State is not concerned about the well being of the students entrusted to them? Who could have imagined that would be the case. This is a school where protecting and empowering a child molester was viewed as necessary to protect the schools image. And many alumni felt that the guy that came out and told about it was a traitor to the school.

It will only be a year or two until they have another similar issue, but it is possible we will never hear about it.

[Anonymous]

The most serious charges have been dropped, but the DA is planning to refile.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/01/us/penn-state-ruling/index.html