Stanford Places Tri Delta on "Alcohol Suspension" Through June 2005

[Rudey]

Originally posted by CutiePie2000
I know what Century Club is. What is Beirut and what is Power Hour? Please tell me, I honestly don't know.

Beirut is pretty much beer pong.

Power hour is a 60 minute version of what century club is.

-Rudey

[AGDee]

Knowing someone who played those games doesn't mean it is responsible behavior. There were two people on my dorm floor who were insulin dependent diabetics. They took turns having their night to party so that they took turns monitoring each other's insulin levels. That was the most incredibly stupid alcohol use (abuse?) I've ever witnessed.

I don't think there are enough details in those articles to truly know what went on. We don't know, from the article, if the drinking was consensual or not. It's clear that the football players really got off easy because they could have been charged with criminal sexual conduct and been on a sexual offenders list for the rest of their lives. It sounds like the Tri Delta members were acting on their own and not as a chapter, which is why they didn't lose their charter. It also sounds as though they're dealing with it in a mature way.

As a parent, I often see my children make mistakes that I made and realized, in time, that they were mistakes. Just as you don't want to see your children make the same mistakes that you did, you don't want to see sisters/brothers make those mistakes either. It sometimes comes off as harshly judgmental, but I think that most of the time, it's a matter of "Why won't you learn from my(or other's) mistakes and not make them yourself?". The reality is, at those ages, the "It won't happen to me" attitude is alive and well. Us old folks get frustrated with that and don't know how to express "It CAN happen to you", knowing it's going to fall on deaf ears anyway. We end up sounding like we're attacking as a result. (Not justifying, just trying to explain the mentality behind it).

Power Hour sounds like it's right on the fringe of dangerous. Someone who is used to drinking can probably do it and be ok, but others are more sensitive to alcohol and could get alcohol poisoning from it.

Dee

[GeekyPenguin]

And none of you have ever binge drank?

It always seems like a good idea at the time, if you're actually so naive as to have not done it or known anyone who has.

[valkyrie]

Why does is seem that people expect college students to behave "reasonably" 100% of the time? Part of growing up involves behaving unreasonably from time to time and learning from it. There's nothing wrong with that.

[AGDee]

When I was in school (since I'm an old lady) the guys did most of the binge drinking. It was a "prove I'm macho and can hold my alcohol" thing. But, my generation was pretty conservative too. Women who did binge drink were looked down on pretty strongly. It was a different time.

Of course people behave unreasonably from time to time. But, just as you wouldn't let your child stick a fork in an electrical socket and let them make their own mistake that way, one would want to discourage dangerous unreasonable behavior. According to the woman who first reported this incident, she was sexually assaulted as a result of this unreasonable behavior. That's something she'll have to deal with for a very long time. Just as the people who have killed others when drinking and driving or who die of alcohol poisoning. There are times that you let someone you care about "sink or swim" and there are times that you try to prevent them from sinking.

Dee

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by AGDee
As a parent, I often see my children make mistakes that I made and realized, in time, that they were mistakes. Just as you don't want to see your children make the same mistakes that you did, you don't want to see sisters/brothers make those mistakes either. It sometimes comes off as harshly judgmental, but I think that most of the time, it's a matter of "Why won't you learn from my(or other's) mistakes and not make them yourself?". The reality is, at those ages, the "It won't happen to me" attitude is alive and well. Us old folks get frustrated with that and don't know how to express "It CAN happen to you", knowing it's going to fall on deaf ears anyway. We end up sounding like we're attacking as a result. (Not justifying, just trying to explain the mentality behind it).

Not to get all philosophical here, but I don't think the issue is so much that college kids don't think that they could ever die from drinking too much. Of course we all know that there's the off-chance that binge-drinking could kill us. There's also the much more likely chance that you're going to have a good time (maybe followed by spending your night throwing up and the next day feeling terrible) and most of us are willing to take that chance.

For all the times when Power Hour/Century Club/Beirut/keg races/WHATEVER goes wrong, there are also a million times where it goes fine and everybody has fun or at least doesn't die or get sexually assaulted or get their sorority put on probation for a year or even get sick.

And no, that doesn't mean that it's "responsible." But that also doesn't mean that nobody should ever play drinking games just because something MIGHT go wrong. I've done Century Club. I've played drinking games with football players. Was that necessarily smart? Maybe not. Was it "responsible"? No. But I'm not sure why responsible has to be the be-all-end-all of college life. Or life in general. Taking risks is a part of life.

[James]

Actually in this instance i might define acting irresponsibly is a situation where you come to unreasonable harm through an obviously danger situation.

Hangovers are not an unreasonable harm and this wasn't a [redictably dangerous situation . . unless you view all men as sexual preadators.

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by James

Hangovers are not an unreasonable harm and this wasn't a [redictably dangerous situation . . unless you view all men as sexual preadators.

Nope, just all football players.