What Happens When an Active Dies of Alcohol Poisoning

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
I am sure, that this was not felt only through Mass. Schools, but all over GreekDom!

Damn, what does it take for the Members of Active Chapters to come to the conclusion that this is still going on today.

Just where are the Responsable Members of the Chapter at to let this happen? Why dont they put a stop to it when they see it?

Good questions. Why are we always groping for answers...

[USChica06]

I just found this and thought it was related.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...l=chi-news-hed

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by KSigkid
You're talking about the Scott Kruger incident, right?

Yes.

I was a grad student at the time (fall 1997), so I saw firsthand the effects on the Greek system and on campus life in general, but I was a little bit "on the outside" as they didn't crack down so much on grad students (most of whom are of legal drinking age, vs. undergrads, most of whom are underage).

MIT's knee-jerk reaction was to ban alcohol at any and all events where even one underage person might be present. No fraternity parties unless they were dry. No dorm parties unless they were dry, either - I think the campus police busted up a beer bash in my old dorm. Some academic departments and labs threw holiday parties with kegs and/or wine - gone. (Those prohibitions later were relaxed a bit - you could serve alcohol if it was BYOB or with a third-party vendor.)

MIT's other reaction was to require all freshmen to live in the dorms. They even built a new dorm so as to have enough beds (they guarantee 4 years of housing to undergrads). Formerly, as soon as you pledged a fraternity, you moved right into the house. Now, fraternity rush has been pushed back a month, and when a freshman pledges, he stays in the dorms. Sorority rush has also been deferred to the beginning of spring term. (Last year was the first year that the new arrangement was in force. Numbers dropped like a rock )

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Also in the Kruger case, the president of MIT settled with the family for something like $6million. Unlike most, it was a very public settlement and the president of MIT acutally stated in the media something to the effect of publicly settling the lawsuit and not going into the court was the right thing to do.

[alphachiohmy]

This is the Trib article:

Death at college tied to drinking
Bradley student is found dead after 2-day binge


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Bradley student dies (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)
September 15, 2003


By Jodi S. Cohen and Ted Gregory, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter Virginia Groark contributed
Published September 16, 2003

PEORIA -- A 22-year-old Bradley University student from Roselle died Sunday after drinking alcohol for several hours to celebrate the end of the Greek system's fall rush, according to the Peoria County coroner's office.

Robert Schmalz, a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, started drinking Saturday with his roommates and continued or started again Sunday morning before attending a ceremony to welcome the new pledge class, authorities said.




A roommate took Schmalz to his off-campus house, where he lived with four friends, and put him to bed about 2 p.m. Friends checked on him about 7 p.m. and found that he had stopped breathing, said Peoria County Chief Deputy Coroner Johnna Ingersoll.

"They were checking to make sure that he was OK," Ingersoll said. He was pronounced dead at his home at 7:38 p.m. The coroner is awaiting toxicology results before declaring a cause of death. An autopsy showed that he had no medical condition or injuries.

Previously, Schmalz had been involved in two alcohol-related incidents, including an arrest last month for driving under the influence in Peoria after he failed a Breathalyzer test, according to secretary of state records. In July 2000, court records show, he was charged in Cook County with being a minor in possession of alcohol, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty and was fined $100.

Schmalz's death comes as Bradley administrators will be in Washington on Tuesday to accept a $5,000 award for having one of the best university alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs nationwide. The Peoria campus has received the award, from the Inter-Association Task Force on Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse issues, for the last five years.

"No school, regardless of the level and quality of alcohol education programs, is immune to these things happening," said Alan Galsky, associate provost for student affairs at Bradley.

The school was chosen for the award because of its many student-led alcohol education programs and for using a "social norms" approach, which promotes telling students that it is normal to drink moderate, but not excessive, amounts of alcohol, Galsky said.

Regis University in Denver and the University of Missouri at Columbia also will be honored.

Bradley administrators will review the Greek system's "calling out" ceremony, in which new pledges gather in the campus quad to call out the name of the fraternity or sorority they will join, Galsky said. The ceremony, from 10 a.m. to noon, is similar to a campus pep rally.

"There is celebration and quite a bit of drinking that goes on beforehand and some afterward, too, depending on the house," said Chris Kaergard, editor of the student newspaper, the Bradley Scout.

About one-third of the school's 5,000 undergraduates belong to the 14 fraternities or seven sororities.

"We will take a close look at our calling out situation, and whatever recommendations need to be made to improve the environment, we will do those," Galsky said.

He described Schmalz as a "very good student" who was to graduate in December with a major in psychology and minor in biology. He planned to attend graduate school.

"He was a good kid," said his grandmother Lena Breitenbach. "He was a lovely boy."

Phi Kappa Tau fraternity members accepted flowers Monday afternoon on the front sidewalk of the fraternity house, where memorial candles had burned to the ground.

"I would say we're feeling an immense sense of loss right now," said Mike Denning, alumni member of the fraternity's board of governors, as he stood outside the fraternity house.

The Bradley chapter had been chosen top chapter by the fraternity's national organization two of the previous four years, he said, adding, "Our policies and procedures are probably as comprehensive as possible."

Many students on campus declined to comment out of respect for the family, and those who did talk were guarded in what they said.

"It was very tragic to see someone the same age as me pass away and give up his entire future at such a young age," said Bill Meek, 22, a graduate business administration student.

Such a tragedy can occur no matter what an institution does to try to curb drinking, said Michael Haines, director of the National Social Norms Resource Center at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Fewer than 1 percent of college students get to the point where they need medical attention for excessive drinking, he said.

"Most students, on most campuses, drink responsibly and don't engage in this sort of behavior," he said. "That gets overshadowed by these tragedies."

Still, Galsky said there remains a problem with college drinking nationwide.

"In all the years we have been taking time and effort and energy to talk to them about alcohol misuse and abuse, nationally we haven't made a lot of progress," he said.

[vanda]

I went to Bradley and the drinking laws on campus are strict but the fraternities and sororities usually adhere to them. Not to take a pot shot but I don't really think his death had anything to do with his fraternity. True, there is a lot of drinking at calling out but people are designated to watch out for who's drinking and security is very heavy and visible during that time. I think the kid just had a drinking problem, & saw calling out as another excuse to drink. Usually the next morning activities don't have drinking ( as far as an outsider could tell). Also when I was there, calling out for fraternities started around six p.m. and lasted into the night and sorority calling out was at noon.

[James]

I keep thinking that some of our best, funniest or wierdest war stories from parties involved people that may have been only 4-5 drinks from death . . . but didn't die.

Especially hangover stories.

Drinking games with shots can get really bad.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

A student at my school was probably a few hours, not drinks, from death. She had consumed too much alcohol, in too short a time. The people who made the drinks put too much alcohol in them. People brought her back to the dorm, but she kept going in and out of consciousness. Luckily, they were smart enough to call 911 which probably saved her life. She had severe alcohol poisoning and was falling into a coma. She went to the hospital where they treated her and released her the next day. It was really scary to hear about the next day. She recovered, but it could have been tragic. She didn't drink again as long as I knew her.

[Tom Earp]

The alcohol tolerence is different per individual. 10 drinks do not hurt some, 2 drinks can really mess some up.

The whole idea of being in a Social Org. is to socialize. But, if it comes to doing shots, dumb and stupid. Swilling a bottle of booze, stupid.

That is the difference in socializing.