Death this morning at OU
 

9/30/04

Early this morning a Sigma Chi pledge at the University of Oklahoma, was found dead in the shower at the Sigma Chi house. Cause of death, alcohol poisoning.. apparently last night was Big/Lil night. I hope we can learn from this.. it really is tragic, everyone here at OU, we really don't know what's going to happen. But please keep the boy's family in your prayers.. this has to be hard on them. thanks you guys.

Boren is closing the Sigma Chi house.

The Norman police are also planning to really crack down on underage drinking.

i am so sad to hear yet another incident has occurred. my thoughts will be with his family and friends.

Damned shame... My condolences to the Sigma Chi pledge and his family. :(

What is WRONG with people? I can't believe this keeps happening over and over again. I was taught (verbally and by example) to watch over my sisters, and to prevent any harm to them and myself to the best of my ability. You don't let your brothers and sisters just keep downing liquor all night. There is a limit, and you have to be man or woman enough to tell each other when to stop (or take the booze away). These people weren't just off by themselves drinking. Someone could have stopped them from going too far.

I feel terrible for all of these families that have to live through these tragedies. I also hope they sue the pants off everyone directly involved, and I hope everyone found responsible is prosecuted.

This is so sad. I think this is the 4th death so far this fall from alcohol poisioning. This has got to stop!

According to station KTOK the dead student is the 19-year-old son of an associate district judge in an Oklahoma county. That seems likely to ensure a thorough investigation and probably plenty of publicity. The story on the station's web site naturally refers to the recent Colorado deaths, as well as other recent ones around the USA and Canada.

http://www.ktok.com/cc-common/feeds/...rticle_id=8519

how very sad for all involved :(

That is sad. :( My sympathies to his family, friends, Sigma Chi, and the entire OU Greek community.

thoughts and prayers for all involved...
as an aside...how sad. haven't we collectively learned something?

My most sincere sympathy to the family of this young man, and to his Sigma Chi family.


There have been some excellent statements made here, and each should be echoed. As a Greek Community, we need to stop killing ourselves. Not tomorrow, not over the weekend, but NOW!!!

Thank heavens that there will be an investigation. Let's just hope that it doesn't paint the entire Greek system with the same wide paint brush.

Yet another tragedy for a family, a chapter and the entire Greek world.

Will our four very recent deaths open any eyes? We can only hope.

I met President Boren when our son started at Oklahoma and have no doubt that he is a man of action. If this is really alcohol related, that chapter is history. I think I also read on a post in Risk Management that this death is being investigated as a homicide. If charges are filed and stick, that adds a whole new direction to this kind of situation.

Finally, can I please once again implore the use of the universitys full name instead of initials. While folks in this part of the country naturally think of OU as Oklahoma -- I got a terrible empty feeling in the pit of my stomach reading the title of this thread that this happened at Ohio University, my alma mater, which is known as OU to millions of people in the East and Midwest. Thanks.

ETA -- Re-reading the post in Risk Management, it says the death is being investigated as a possible homicide. A subtle but substantial difference from what I said above.

I go to OU, and knew the guy who died. I hope you all learn from this. There isn't anything wrong with drinking, but greeks have a friggin problem with moderation......if a pledge is to drunk to take a shot, then dont call him a pussy, or a wuss just say its cool man you've had to much anyway. And for the love of God have a guy keep an eye on everyone....if someone is wobbling dont let them have anymore, if someones stubbling get them away from all alcohol.....I dont care if you have to pick them up kicking and screaming.

Actually, that's Grant County.

Judge Hamontree

I've heard things from people that knew the kid. But at this point, I'm not going to repeat them. I can say that from what I hear, alcohol was involved, but that's probably not the end of it.

I can only hope that this gets GLO's around the country to wake up to this problem. Those of you that are still active, watch eachother. Don't allow brothers and sisters to engage in such risky behavior.

While I share that hope, I can't help feeling that if years and years of efforts by BACCHUS and GAMMA, MADD, SADD, and many, many others -- not to mention individual Greek organization's own risk management programming -- haven't done the trick, the recent deaths may not have much effect either. I hope I'm wrong.

This whole country needs to rethink its puritanical attitude on alcohol.

We need to educate our children how to enjoy alcohol responsibly, how to know when you've had enough, and how not to use it as a badge of honor or coolness or what have you. We need to show our children that drinking is not a crime - no matter what the age - but drinking irresponsibly is. We need to do whatever it takes to remove the "forbidden fruit" aspect of alcohol. We need to educate on this as certainly as we educate kids on how to escape a burning building, how to avoid abduction and how to drive.

The "stay far far away from alcohol until you turn 21, and then automatically know what you're doing" obviously doesn't work. How much longer do we have to put up with it and how many more deaths have to happen before everyone realizes that our present system goes completely against a normal learning process for adolescents and young adults?

:(

I don't get it. Why are people so stupid? If someone is to drunk and can't handle a shot or a drink, why make him feelbad till he takes it?

When you go out to a bar with your sisters or brothers or friends, or even if your dirnking in a house, make sure there is at least one person sober there so they know when to cut off people who are to drunk. We always make sure that least one person stays sober.

There have been way to many deaths this fall due to alchol.

:( :( :( :(

Thoughts and prayers go out ot his family, friends, and the chapter.

This is so sad. :(

My heartfelt condolences go out to his friends, family, and the entire U. Oklahoma community.

I'd say something along the lines of, "Well, maybe people will learn something from this." But it's clear that they won't. The night this happened, there were several major news stories already kicking around. If the stories of deaths two weeks ago, one state away, weren't enough to motivate the OU students involved to act responsibly, then this additional death won't make any difference to the next victim, either. There's got to be some other way, because what we're doing isn't working.

Back in my younger days as an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma, many fraternity parties used to be open to the public and awash in copious quantities of 3.2 beer. Today, with third-party insurance rules and other restrictions on the sale and serving of alcohol, those days are but a distant memory.

However, the effects of alcohol abuse continues to rear its ugly head everytime a pledge or a member of a fraternity or sorority gets thoroughly drunk or dies from alcohol poisoning. For the media, all you hafta say is the magic words 'alcohol' and 'fraternity' and they'll be swarming at the scene looking for an exclusive.

I wouldn't be surprised if OU President Boren enacts some kind of very strict alcohol rules upon the Greek community, with severe penalties for violations, up to and including the revocation of charters. In OU's highly competitive Greek system, losing a chapter can be devastating, with recolonization taking years to accomplish.

Kids these days, like in my day, consider themselves 'bulletproof' ("It can't happen to me, I know how to handle my liquor..." (Famous last words...)) While I don't advocate neo-prohibitionism by going totally dry, both alumni and undergraduates need to enforce the rules enacted by the national fraternity and the university.

My husband (who's a Sigma Chi) and I have discussed this all morning. I know that I NEVER drank enough to become very ill, vomit, or not remember what I did the night before. Why did I have such "restraint"?

Because I would be MORTIFIED if I threw up in front of other people (or pee on myself, or poop on myself as I have seen others do intoxicated). I mean embarassed enough to never show my face again. Seriously....not to mention that vomiting is not the most pleasant thing in the world...I hated even the possibility of being nauseous. So I would drink enough to get a good buzz, and when my stomach said "No more!" I stopped. There was only one or two nights that I drank entirely too much (and knew I had overstepped my bounds) but even those nights I never got sick and I remember what happened.

However, it seems like vomiting in front of others (or peeing on yourself, or falling down a flight of stairs, whatever) isn't embarassing or mortifying. It's a "funny story" to "remember our sisters/brothers by". A great "remember when". Therefore, when it happens to someone the embarassment isn't enough to keep them from getting to that point again. Instead, the attention and laughs they get may encourage them to get that drunk again and again.

(I know that we don't know the situation at OU, and I'm not assuming that any of the above motivators were present in this incident. I'm just speaking about my alcohol experience in the past. Sorry to get all "psychological" on you!!)

PsychTau

4th known alcohol poisoning death in the greek system- about 8th or 9th in alcohol poisoning deaths overall in colleges/universities in the US this fall.

EXACTLY. If universities and organizations enact more and tougher rules in response to these deaths, I think it's only going to make things worse.

These tragic events have nothing to do with the greek system, with universities, with bars (now some people in Boulder Colorado are trying to stop new liquor licenses from being issued near campus) or with anything that happens at school. The problems start well before that -- nobody drinks because he's in a fraternity, but I bet people who are more inclined to drink are more likely to join a fraternity (people seem to think that being in a fraternity causes drinking, but forget that correlation does not imply causation). Education about drinking should start at home before kids are even old enough to be thinking about college. It's unrealistic and -- really, deadly -- to send kids off to school with no idea how to control their drinking.

Unfortunately, I agree.

What we have seen recently is the almost automatic suspension of chapter charters when something like this happens. Some always say that the university has rushed to judgement -- but in the end the suspension is almost always justified.

We have to stop sweeping this under the nearest carpet and admit that alcohol is a HUGE problem for college aged people. It's not entirely a Greek problem, but one we need to take the lead on because of the perception that it is.

I am on record here as being in favor of lowering the drinking age for beer to 18. But that would only solve the "legal" issues of most of the underage drinking.

The problems go much deeper. We and the colleges are inheriting kids who are drinking heavily in high school (Pot, meet kettle -- I was a poster child for this myself years ago). The anti-drinking campaigns and education need to start much earlier. They should continue -- not only in the Greek System but in the rest of college life.

In the end, though, I'm not convinced that no matter how good a program is that it makes much difference. Kids still think they're bulletproff.

Take a look at the threads on GC. Every time something of this nature happens, you send your prayers, you send your condolences, you send your thoughts, you send your best wishes to the family, chapter, fraternity, university and friends.

Then you post about how wasted you got last night.

By the way, I say "you" when I would generally say "we" because I have become a very small part of this equation. No matter how much I (we alums) rant and rave, nothing is going to be accomplished until there is peer group pressure for moderation.

The university sends out grief counselors, but are the bars any less crowded that night? Are there less pitchers on the tables?

There are some good programs in place, but none was effective in the four most recent fatalities. Designated drivers wouldn't have helped, there were no fatal traffic accidents. Checking ID's wouldn't help -- these didn't happen at party-type functions but rather at pledge events or just sitting around drinking. In all but one of the four fraternity related incidents, the victim was underage.

Here's what could happen: Harsh crackdowns by the university, the police and by the national organizations. Dry Housing -- absolutely enforced. Automatic suspension or expulsion of chapters. Heavy fines or expulsions of individual offenders by schools. Zero tolerance of underage drinking.

Here's what else could happen. Peer pressure for moderation. Social instead of binge drinking. Obeyance of the law. Truely working together with the university administration instead of "arms length" negotiations when the school is made to force its hand. A hard look inside at the kind of culture at your chapter or school, and ways to change it if needed.

Holding high the standards of our organizations, founders and rituals.

So what happens now? Do you (we) become pro-active in saving lives, or do these tragic events lose their impact over time -- fade into the background of our memory until another one occurs?

This has been written in deep frustration by the father of two older and one college age children -- who has had to participate in a "candle light vigil" for a young brother in one of the chapters he had advised.

Enough is enough.

Or maybe too much.

Very well said, DeltAlum.

The only thing that I would add is that GLOs need to take the lead not only because of the perception that alcohol abuse is particularly a Greek problem, but perhaps more importantly because we bill ourselves as the leaders of campus communities, as the cream of the crop, and as groups who care about community service.

Here's a needed community service staring us in the face. Can we put our money (and efforts) where our mouths are and take it on by leading?

Co-sign, I have felt this way for a very long time.

Blood alcohol = .42
 

Station KTOK's web site now contains this recent information from the police and the medical examiner:

"Friday, October 1, 2004 at 3:05pm

Norman police say 19-year old Blake Hammontree, found dead Thursday at an OU Fraternity house died of acute ethanol intoxication. His blood alcohol content was more than five times the legal limit to be considered a DUI driver.

Norman police confirm a 19-year old University of Oklahoma fraternity pledge literally drank himself to death. Blake Hammontree died of what olice call 'acute ethanol intoxication'.
A statement from Norman police stated the Medical Examiner's office made the determination and found Hammontree's blood alcohol content was .42.
The legal limit to be considered a drunk driver in Oklahoma is .08
"The Norman Police Department is investigating this as a homicide, as they would any other unattended death," said the statement released shortly before 2pm today."

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ALCOHOL AWARENESS WEEK • OCTOBER 17-23, 2004 •


Hi everyone,

As a Student Affairs Professional, it saddens me to see students making choices which negatively impact their lives. Drinking too much is never a good idea. :(

Every year I receive publicity materials for National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week. I would encourage you all to find a few facts about alcohol awareness and present them during one of your meetings or just hang up a fact sheet of some sort on your chapter's bulletin board. Make it relevant to your chapter members by adding that this information comes at the right time given the recent deaths of Greeks on other college campuses.

This website may be helpful to you:

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/students/

Please don't just say, "Oh how sad for those kids that died".... DO SOMETHING. Stop thinking that these events are just some distant occurances. They can happen to YOU or to a well-loved member of YOUR chapter. At your next opportunity, look around at your brothers or sisters. Imagine what it would be like if you woke up tomorrow and a member was found dead in the chapter house. Would that be fun? Would that be "cool"? Of course not, it would be terribly sad, confusing and devastating. And for what? Because people didn't want to make smart choices about alcohol? Because none of the other members thought enough to look after the ones who had too much to drink?

You could lose your life, a friend, and/or your chapter's charter. It's time for us all to really stop and think about what we're doing.

.....Kelly

Navane,

I just used the Blood Alcohol Educator on the Web site you gave us, and I found out that four light beers in two hours just puts me over the legal limit to drive. :eek:

I had no idea! I would recommend using the site. You put in your sex and weight and choose what to drink, and it will tell you your BAC.

navane, I think you are totally right, dont just feel sorry for the Member, Members, Fraternity/Soroity, and Family.

Dammit, just do something about it. How long does it take for Greeks to understand that death, feeling saddened and getting closed to come to the realization. This is wrong! :mad:

No matter what, it cost Greeks not only Rish Management Insurance, but Members and Chapters.

Please, Please, use some good judgement and remember, these are our Interfraternal Brothers and Sisters.

I am very sorry to hear about this tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the Sigma Chi brothers and this young man's family and friends. I will make sure the Eta chapter here of Sigma Chi knows to prayer for this tradegy.

SIGMA CHI MOURNS TRAGIC DEATH

Thank you! Word to you and to DeltAlum for pointing out that there's one hell of a way to change this behavior -- socially stigmatize it. When kids feel shame in front of our peers, we stop. Collegians, roll your eyes in disgust when someone brags about not remembering the night before. The idiot who pisses himself at the party should be ridiculed in the cafeteria the next day. Break up with that fool who stumbled into the bushes on your date and tell the whole campus why you did. And hell yes, wake up your shadows-of-death hungover brother at 8 a.m. sharp to scrub away his own puke with an old toothbrush. Treat them like they've done something stupid and destructive and infantile, not goofy and high-spirited and fun.

All the alumni lectures and university crackdowns in the world won't have a shadow of the impact of some hot girls saying, "What a jerk...he'll be sleeping alone," or some pledge brothers saying, "Man, you embarrassed us...remind me not to be seen in public with you again."

What was the lesson we are supposed to learn? I am getting confused with the rhetoric.

My husband was a Sigma Chi. This is horrible for the parents and family and friends.

My kids went off to college and we thought we had talked to them, said all the right things, and even let them have a drink now and then to take away the mystery or whatever you want to call it. After all, we certainly partied ourselves in college.

But I will say I was still shocked to hear about the level and frequency of partying- the number of mixers and socials - two or three a week at my daughter's school.
How it's normal at some places NOT to take a class that would actually meet - gasp - on Friday! Who could possibly make it after getting in a 3-4 AM from Thursday night?

Needless to say, our kids went Greek, partied too much, and we finally had to crack down. Our son had to work and put himself through school part time because he partied so much and we said pay for your own party, then pulled the plug on the $ pipeline.

Our daughter was so put off by the hard partying and drinking at her University she chose not to go back. She so regrets going Greek and falling into a bad routine. In the meantime, I regret that we even allowed them to pledge. They both have walked away from their GLO's.
I know it must sound like we did a poor job with them, but they are really fine now and grown up. So much of what you try to teach your children is drowned out by peer pressure.
Thanks for letting me vent, but I feel so horrible for that mother who I'm sure wishes she could hear her son's voice just one more time...

Losing a young man just beginning to enjoy the prime of his life is a terrible shame. Evey year a new group of Freshmen hit the campuses of our colleges and Universities. We reinvent the wheel every year or two because the 18-19 year olds now enrolling don't remeber the stupidity we engaged in 5, 10 15 20 years ago yes stupidty and recreate our mistakes in the name of fun, chasing women and being free.
Nearly all 18 year olds live for the moment.
I'm frankly amazed more freshmen don't die, out of my 25 man pledge class I can remember at least 10 who passed out from drinking, I don't know what the answer is maybe deferred rush, maybe taking the romance out of booze by making it legal, all I know is that another set of parents is crushed because their wonderful son will never be able to be a part of their life again.
About six months ago I started a post expressing my concerns about letting my son pledge, I got some heat about the post, this type of event is the reason why every parent worries about their kids going greek.

Chalk this up to experience and old age, but way back in my younger days when most of you were still in diapers, I was one who partied my way into a death spiral. I was depledged from one fraternity for some of my alcoholic antics, and there was no one to blame but myself for getting to that stage. And I almost repeated that during my pledge period in Alpha Sigma Phi until I got a severe talking to by my big brother and other members; if I kept going that same way, I was almost guaranteed to be blackballed when it came time to vote me for membership.

I straightened out, but it was already too late for me academically. While I was initiated into the fraternity, I finished the spring semester on academic probation. I stayed for the summer session, which brought my grades up to get out of Ac Pro, but it still wasn't enough to be eligible for financial aid. And my mother wasn't going to be handing out more money for me to piss away. So, it was time for me to withdraw from the University of Oklahoma and enlist in the Air Force.

Eventually, I outgrew those wild days of debauchery that marked my youth. I enjoy the occasional beer or mixed drink, but I no longer drink just to get drunk and pass out. (If I get into that situation, it's gonna be far away from my car keys.) My tolerance for massive quantities of alcohol at 39 is MUCH lower than it was when I was 19. The stricter DUI laws throughout the country have made it a very expensive legal and financial proposition to suffer the ignominy of a DUI arrest.

It's not funny when you can't remember what happened when you pass out.

It's not funny when your friends (and your enemies) tell stories about what you did while you were fucked up out of your mind - and you don't remember at all.

It's not funny when you wake up in your dorm room and can't remember how you got there, and you're offering up loud prayers to the porcelain god. And when you look at yourself in the mirror, you realize your face just had a visit from the 'Mystic Marker'.

It's not funny to piss all over yourself when you're passed out.

It's not funny when you get called up to the standards board and be told that your conduct as a pledge and future fraternity member is not welcome.

It's not funny when you are tried in a chapter meeting, found guilty of conduct unbecoming, and immediately depledged.

I hope maybe what I've just discussed may finally sink in to some of you. NO ONE IS INDESTRUCTIBLE. Don't get into a situation where you can possibly jeopardize your Greek organization or yourself. If you're of legal age, I'll be happy to share a beer or two with you, but I will be just as quick to "whisper good counsel in your ear" you if you step out of line.

Not sure that there is a lesson here. My point simply is that there are better ways to stop these tragedies than we've tried so far, high on the list being peer pressure.

Additionally, it's time to be pro-active about stopping them as oppossed to offering condolences in retrospect.

Nationals and law enforcement haven't been able to effectively come to grips with the problem, so I believe it's time to bring different pressure to bear.

What sort of "different pressure"?

I don't know how much can be done. This might sound callous, but everyone's stunned into good behavior now. In a few weeks, people--even at these schools affected--will be back to their old antics. No number of lectures from alums, administrators, or HQ will unlearn this behavior, this youthful arrogance and feeling of invincibility.

I am interested, however, in how these schools take the issue of severely intoxicated students. If a student comes to the infirmary or calls EMS, are they still punished, or is the primary emphasis on making sure the kid doesn't end up in a box? These tragedies seem to be occurring more at large state schools--which could say a lot for the health education being offered at these places.