| Thanks to the OP for the link.
I watched the trailer with my daughter yesterday. Coincidentally she went back to school for the beginning of her third year. This is also the first year she will be a full member of a sorority.
I watch the video first and and I expected, perhaps wished, that she would say "oh dad, that doesn't happen at U...". Well, she didn't say that and instead nodded multiple times and asked me for the link to the site. She wants bring the video to the attention of the Greek Life Coordinator (who probably has seen it already) and perhaps see it with some of her sisters. Whether she goes ahead with these plans or not I am very grateful for the opportunity to discuss the topic.
I will say up front that I believe the legal drinking age should be lowered and I know of, and to some extent condone my children's drinking, but please let's not make a thread about that. The topic has been discussed in detail elsewhere in CC. I only bring it up because I believe the existing law puts colleges in a difficult situation with the unintended and tragic consequence described in the video. I am talking about the refusal of students to seek medical attention in a timely manner.
Of all the issues my daughter and I discussed after seeing the trailer this is the one that worried the two of us the most. She related to me an incident where a girl cracked open her head during a party but was moved to a different house before they called for help. Luckily this was only a bump but we both knew a lot could have gone wrong if they had moved a more seriously injured person.
The school my daughter attends has a strict three strikes and you are out policy. The students are certainly aware of it, and fear being caught, but judging by the amount of drinking that goes on that campus the policy falls way short of its intended purpose and instead merely allows the school to say they are addressing the problem.
The bigger problem is that the 3 strikes and you are out policy does not seem to have a medical amnesty provision. In other words, if you receive medical attention while intoxicated you get a strike. Likewise if somebody brings a person to a medical facility and they are drunk, they also get a strike. I am in the process of confirming this but if it is true this is idiotic. I am not prone to use this kind of adjective but I don't how else to describe such a policy.
While I do my homework I would be interested to know if there are other schools with similar policies or if they make provisions to encourage students to seek medical attention. To me that was the most poignant aspect of the trailer we saw and one that can be addressed with relative ease. |