that's my attitude this morning toward the fraternities and sororities of the universe.a freshman (not one of mine, holyshitthankgod, not one of mine) here died this weekend of alcohol poisoning at his off-campus frat house. his name was ben sprague. (click here for the story).
his blood alcohol level was .379, apparently well over the .35-coma level. his "friends" found him on a futon in the frat's living room sunday morning. fucking stupid kids.
i listened to two separate persuasive speeches in the last few weeks from young sorority girls on the dangers of alcohol in college, and now this senseless death. maybe my southern good-ol-boy school will finally wise up about politely looking the other way as the student body carouses drunkenly through tailgating and football games, "rush" week, and spring break booze cruises. perhaps parents who silently condone binge drinking as a part of the college tradition will snap out of it.
drinking at obscene levels aside, ben was the seventh student to die this fall. yes, the SEVENTH. it has been a bad year all around. it's like someone put some "Use Poor Judgment" elixir in the town's water supply or something. god knows i've made some bad decisions this fall, too.
but at least my family isn't going to have the worst christmas of their lives in a few weeks. and at least all of my students will make it home safely for the holidays. where they will be held by their parents fiercely and with a wild kind of love to (hopefully) sustain them through a brighter spring term, where we all make better decisions.
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