?Another college drinking death?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Weenie, I think it does make the news but does not get national attention. One solution would be to compel the schools to maintain a national database. However, one difficulty is that the accidents/incidents do not fall into the same category. For example is there a student drinking at school and falling from stairs and another drinking at a bar outside campus and dying in a car accident? Groups that are interested in maintaining the STATUS QUO like to separate the issues and make the deaths of students from alcohol abuses a trivial matter. </p>

<p>On the small school, here’s a story that dates from 2004. The student who died was the son of my sister’s science teacher. The last words in the quoted text are ominous.</p>

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<p>Most of the links do not longer work, but the news was picked up on a regional basis. </p>

<p><a href=“http://kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=15134&cat=SW_NEWMEXICO[/url]”>http://kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=15134&cat=SW_NEWMEXICO&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2005/February/juddrelease.html[/url]”>http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2005/February/juddrelease.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

22

<p>When I saw this yesterday from the U of Wisconsin-Madison, I first thought it was kinda clever (witty) <a href=“The Daily Cardinal”>The Daily Cardinal;
as it was an April Fools joke. Now, in light of all these tragic incidents, including the drug/alcohol death at the U of GA a month or so ago, it isn’t so funny after all…</p>

23

<p>i think it’s very ignorant to jump to conclusions about this tragedy being related strictly to alcohol. it’s just creating negative gossip when in reality, there is a very good chance it was something out of his control and not ‘some college student being irresponsible.’ so before you go around throwing out statistics and saying parents are failing their children… why don’t you cool it and wait to hear what actually happened.</p>

24

<p>Missing student’s body found in landfill</p>

<p>TRENTON, N.J., April 25 (UPI) – Investigators said Tuesday that a body found in a Pennsylvania landfill appears likely to be that of a New Jersey college student who vanished last month.
John Fiocco Jr., 19, a student at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, had been drinking when he was last seen. Traces of his blood were found in a dumpster outside his dorm.
After days of fruitless searching in the a landfill in Tullytown, a few miles from the college on the other side of the Delaware River, police found human remains Tuesday, KYW News Radio in Philadelphia reported.
The body was not positively identified as Fiocco’s. But an uncle, Joseph Fiocco, released a statement in which the family thanked police, other officials and volunteers and said they had been “deeply blessed” to have the young man as long as they did.
Police have not released a cause of death. There had been speculation that the young man, under the influence of alcohol, either got into a trash chute in the dorm or was pushed into one.</p>

<p>(from all accounts drinking was involved and the student had to be helped to his room…)</p>

25

<p>uh oh-- I think we have a new ■■■■■…</p>

26

<p>or someone who hasn’t read all the articles, the news, and statistics, but whatever</p>

<p>this is really sad that the body was found, but I guess it gives closure, whatever that means</p>

27

<p>Tragic. Horrific. Cannot imagine what his parents are dealing with. </p>

<p>I obviously don’t know enough about it but from the little bit presented here…a mix of alcohol and pranks/horseplay is a deadly mix. I think young people feel invincable and then drinking clouds any intelligent judgement even more.</p>

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<p>weenie,
Just wanted to agree with xiggi that the story of John Fiocco’s tragedy has gotten widespread coverage here in Southeastern PA. It’s being covered on all the Phil. tv stations and in the Phil. Inquirer. Not as much up my way (I’m about an 1 1/2 north of Philly) but definately in the Philadelphia area.</p>

29

<p>According to today’s STar-Ledger, there is talk that it is being treated as a homocide. Call me a ■■■■■ if you like, but I think before we assume that the young man, having been drinking or not, was responsible for his death, we should wait and find out what happened.</p>

30

<p>Garland, I agree, that is why I was mentioning the possible horseplay or pranks…possibly mixed with alcohol…and possibly leading to a deadly mix either accidental or intentional. I don’t know what happened but in any of these scenarios, it is pretty horrific with deadly consequences.</p>

31

<p>Can I homeschool my DD for college?</p>

32

<p>If you are drinking to the point that people need to help you to your room, you are vulnerable to accidents, harm, stupidity, etc</p>

<p>I am not saying blaim the victim, far from it, but judgement is clouded, reflexes are slowed, defensces are down</p>

<p>That is why its not a great idea for girls to get drunk…no girl deserves to be hurt in any way, drunk or sober, but when drunk, its easy to miss some signals of danger and use good judgement.</p>

33

<p>They just announced on the news that they confirmed it was John Fiocco’s body that was found at the landfill. Also said that they have no “persons of interest” but that the investigation was still on-going.</p>

34

<p>“or someone who hasn’t read all the articles, the news, and statistics, but whatever”</p>

<p>actually, this someone has not only read every article under the sun regarding the issue, but has witnessed all of the media coverage on campus first-hand and knew the victim.</p>

35

<p>Exactly, jerseygirl. If your thread count is any indication of how long you’ve been here, I take it you’re not too familiar with popular opinion on the parents’ board - that is, all alcohol is bad, that children (ie, legal adults who are in college) are out of control, that society is coming apart and that any time alcohol was involved in an incident, it was the culprit. Watch out, though - as soon as you deviate from the party line, you’ll get some condescending comments thrown your way. What do you know? You’re only a child, after all.</p>

36

<p>Why do kids today seem to have so many more problems than us baby boomers did when we were in college? I realize that there is more reporting and openness nowadays, but . . .
Are kids under too much pressure these days?
Is too much money and/or too much freedom a factor?
Our parents were more dogmatic about right and wrong. We didn’t like that/didn’t think that worked well, so we as a generation have been more flexible, less strict with our children. Has that led to these problems?
I would love to hear others’ opinions.</p>

37

<p>“Why do kids today seem to have so many more problems than us baby boomers did when we were in college?”</p>

<p>Oh, they’re not. They’re drinking less. Drugging less. Less likely to commit crimes, less likely to commit violent crimes. More likely to go to college at all. More likely to go to graduate school. </p>

<p>There is a very small subset of a subset - a subset of students attending a smal group of “elite” colleges who seem (to me) to be suffering under the weight of too much money and expectations. But take them out of the equation, and our kids are doing just fine! (as are the majority of students at these elite institutions as well.)</p>

38

<p>Most people who drink to excess don’t end up in a dumpster or a landfill to sleep it off. So, duh, there was something else involved in this tragic situation. Give us a little credit.</p>

<p>But it isn’t necessary to tell the parents (and kids on this thread) that they are ignorant and should “cool it”. It is fine to have dissenting opinions, but a newbie on CC (if they aren’t a longtime poster using a second identity to be less diplomatic) coming out of the gate with your dukes up just isn’t necessary. It makes you look like a ■■■■■. Plain and simple. Same for making sarcastic comments and overgeneralizations just for the sake of it.</p>

<p>I have worked (in my professional capacity) with teens and adults with substance abuse problems, The degree of denial, the resistence to seeing the impact of their behavior on themselves, their abilities, their families, etc, is frightening. They are each convinced that they are fine, there is no problem, they can handle it or stop whenever, and that the people with the problems are someone else. R-i-i-ght…</p>

39

<p>Cavalier, i drink alcohol, yes indeed I do…but I don’t binge, and if one of my friends was so drunk I had to help them to their room, I would never leave them alone</p>

<p>jerseygirl11, I said that because you attacked us for discussing the alcohol involved in the young man’s death. His FRIENDS told people he was really drunk and they had to help him walk. Well, what are we to take from that?</p>

<p>with young adults, alcohol is often the catalyst involved in many situations that are dangerous, scary, violent, harrassing, and criminal</p>

<p>I know of a young man, a family friend, who was drinking and played chicken with a bus. He is dead. Do you really think this rational, really intelligent, star athlete would have run in front of a bus to see if he could beat it if he was sober? He was 18.</p>

<p>Or the young man who fell four floors and was in a coma who was fooling around with his friends on a fire escape, rough housing, yes he was drunk (he will be lucky if he walks again0</p>

<p>Accidents happen, yes. Stupidity happens, yes. Combine the young adult brain, with alcohol in abundance, the feeling of omnipotence, the friends who just leave you there…and unless it is talked about, it will happen again</p>

<p>If this young man was drunk, as his friends that night have inferred, and wondered off, do you not think it should be looked at? If you have a friend who is drunk, they can DIE from alcohol poisoning. Would YOU know what to do with them? Would you know its NOT okay to just let them sleep it off?</p>

<p>This death happened on the heals of another death, hazing incidents, the situation at Duke, spring break and all its coverage, the young man was missing, and well, it got some media frenzy behind it</p>

<p>Would you want the people to just say, well, another dead college student, who cares? Or would you want people to see that binge drinking at college is a HUGE issue, with severe consequences for many</p>

<p>I don’t even need to go into the date rape statistics, the property damage, the missing of classes, the harrasement of other college students</p>

<p>There was a student posting here on CC awhile back who had dorm mates that bugged him at no end for not partying with them, to the point of drunken bullying, the parents gave him some very good advice</p>

<p>This young man is dead. Very sad. But if we don’t learn from it, it can happen again…and again…and again</p>

40

<p>Is it just me, or does it seem as if there are more drinking related incidents than 30 years ago when I went to college? There were alcohol related car accidents, for sure, but I can’t think of one date rape (although at a neighboring IVy there was a gang rape of a freshman coed…we were horrified because it was so unusual and violent) . I went to a small womens college, but I had friends all over the place and never heard anything. Maybe its just that word didn’t get out, or people were ashamed, or something.?</p>