Shocking Penn State hazing incident

[Anonymous]

I deliberately chose a college with no Greek system because the whole thing turns me off, and I'm so glad I did. That isn't to say we didn't drink and party - we absolutely did. But there were no morons hazing us and/or pressuring us to drink to oblivion or commit humiliating acts. The worst that ever happened was a bad hangover the next day.

I think the Greek system is completely overrated and out of control.

[Anonymous]

Once of the worst, most savage things ever. I hope none of my kids go near a frat house at college.

This stuff is not entirely unexpected. Why in the hell don't universities mandate that these houses have a sober, more mature supervisor living in the house?

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

Yeah, no. Did you read the full account of what went on? No one was still out of it 15 hours later - they are just cold blooded psycho idiots.
Plus this is Pennsylvania - there's puritanical alcohol issue at all. High schoolers there drink typically like fish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yeah, no. Did you read the full account of what went on? No one was still out of it 15 hours later - they are just cold blooded psycho idiots.
Plus this is Pennsylvania - there's NO puritanical alcohol issue at all. High schoolers there drink typically like fish.

[Anonymous]

The reason the drinking age is 21 instead of 18 or younger as in most countries is because there was a huge and growing problem of drunk driving among teens. There was a national movement to increase the legit age for drinking in the 1970s/early 1980s. And the situation is the same - most teens live in car oriented suburban environments. They are not like European or British kids, who do drink heavily but who have public transportation to rely on and very few teens have their own cars.

Colleges have strict drinking rules on paper because of liability factors. Everyone knows the drinking goes on behind doors, but colleges can't afford to appear lenient because some fool drinks too much and falls out his window and dies and the parents sue the school.

The US does have more socially conservative views towards alcohol but I think this is really a reflection by that something like 90% of the alcohol in the US is drunk by only 10% of the population (or something similar). For most Americans alcohol is simply not an issue so there's no need or push to change the status quo, although I admit culture does play a bit of a role. I remember being with a group of British people in Germany, the Americans were scandalized that the British wanted a drink with their lunch as most Americans only drink in the evenings. In turn the British were scandalized that the Germans were comfortable having beer with breakfast. Cultural differences

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP regarding overly restrictive alcohol laws. There is a reason the US has the highest rate of binge drinking in the world. Our laws are absurd.....you can vote and be drafted at 18 yet you can't have a glass of wine? That's just insane and it has real consequences.

[Anonymous]

Well, they certainly didn't intend to call 911.

[Anonymous]

Is this five pages of pretending this is an isolated event? If any of you saw the spy film The Good Shepherd boozing, they were boozing and irritating on pledges at Yale in the 40s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this five pages of pretending this is an isolated event? If any of you saw the spy film The Good Shepherd boozing, they were boozing and irritating on pledges at Yale in the 40s.

Boozing and some rough pranks is one thing. Not having a soul is quite another.

I'm surprised that this thread has kind of died. Do your boys act like this or something?
Where is the outrage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we raising psychopaths? How did so many guys leave him to die a slow painful death, without calling for help? Are we raising monsters?!. Apparently surveillance cameras captured everything. I feel heartbroken for his parents. That was someone's child

It is bone chilling what happened there I personally think they shoudl be tired for manslaughter and spend many many years in jail.Heart breaks for that family dealing with the heartache.

[Anonymous]

WTF?? I just read this story this morning. Insanity.

What is the story with Penn State? I get that this stuff happens anywhere but this story is over the top when you read the details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PP regarding overly restrictive alcohol laws. There is a reason the US has the highest rate of binge drinking in the world. Our laws are absurd.....you can vote and be drafted at 18 yet you can't have a glass of wine? That's just insane and it has real consequences.

Sorry, but that is just NUTS.

This has nothing to do with drinking laws. This has everything to do with college aged men not having a shred of compassion and human decency. Read the details on what they did with him and how they wanted to cover it up. This isn't just about alcohol abuse.

[Anonymous]

Can someone clarify? Is UPenn the Ivy? Is Penn State average to get into?

I felt sick reading the timeline details. I don't understand the ones that KNEW he fell down a long flight of stairs and didn't do anything to help. I'm guessing there must have been some that didn't know about the fall and just assumed he was drunk and asleep? But there were others that saw him moving strangely, and still didn't do something.

I think this is an example of our society that often no one wants to be the one to step forward and do the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone clarify? Is UPenn the Ivy? Is Penn State average to get into?

I felt sick reading the timeline details. I don't understand the ones that KNEW he fell down a long flight of stairs and didn't do anything to help. I'm guessing there must have been some that didn't know about the fall and just assumed he was drunk and asleep? But there were others that saw him moving strangely, and still didn't do something.

I think this is an example of our society that often no one wants to be the one to step forward and do the right thing.

UPenn is the ivy. Penn State is average to get into, but after this and after the Sandusky stories, who would even consider sending their kid there??