http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-wesleyan-sophomore-overdose-20150222-story.html
While there has been some conjecture as to what these students actually ingested, MDMA is essentially what people referred to as “ecstasy” a generation or so ago. As I recall, there was always a danger of not hydrating enough due to the drug’s tendency to cycle water through the body’s system faster than normal. OTOH, there have also been instances where supposedly the victims drank too much water (intense thirst is a side effect of ecstasy use) and suffered from a phenomenon called, hypoatremia, or what is sometimes called, “water poisoning”. Either condition can be extremely dangerous.
Here’s a link to a helpful PSA from a sister school:
http://middlebury-vt.uloop.com/news/view.php/139061/The-Innocent-Freshmans-Guide-to-Recreat
Uloop is not affiliated with Middlebury. It’s an independent publication that links hundreds of colleges, http://www.uloop.com/news/index.php/Campus%20Life …including Wesleyan. http://wesleyan.uloop.com/news/index.php/Campus%20Life
The excellent PSA was written by a UC Santa Cruz student and was originally published on Uloop’s webpage.http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/139061/The-Innocent-Freshmans-Guide-to-Recreat
^^ A minor correction: hyponatremia is the spelling of one of the conditions referred to. The omitted n is significant because I think it refers to the associated sodium (natrium) imbalance.
Would anybody care to speculate on what Wesleyan will do in a disciplinary sense? I know the school is generally lenient with drug use, but I’m curious with kids being hospitalized and all of it being in the media and such.
There is an ongoing criminal investigation and so far 4 students have been arrested and the school has suspended them pending the outcome of the investigation.
Personally I hope they come down hard on the people involved in this. I find the whole thing disgusting and an embarrassment for the school. With so much attention paid to eliminating a supposed rape culture on campus I would like to see the school prosecute the drug culture with the same ferocity, especially considering the two are not mutually exclusive.
Wesleyan’s crime statistics for 2013, as made public through the Clery Act, reported that the school had seen 240 drug abuse violations reported to the judicial committee in the past year, for a student body of 2,900.
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/02/25/four-wesleyan-students-arrested-after-molly-drug-overdose/
You might hope after this horrid occurance the University will have a complete rethink regards their tolerance for this type of activity, drugs are far to easy at Wesleyan and the University does nothing to prevent their use,
Perhaps President Roth should consider his role in the light of this event, instead of writing as one commentator put it ‘banalities about the liberal arts degree’
@Englishman, this was already addressed on another thread in which you (predictably) also posted and got no traction from the majority of other posters. Wesleyan already has one of the most strictly enforced contraband policies of any selective LAC. And, in case it isn’t clear - that’s how you get Clery statistics. By enforcing the rules. Here’s my previous post just in case you overlooked it in the previous thread in the Parent’s Forum:
I find it amusing that Englishman linked the Yale Daily News.
Tperry,Yale '82
One of the four students arrested at Wesleyan is President of Campus Drug Safety Organization!
He posted bail at $175,000! I guess he was full pay? and apparently in 2013, 1 in 13 students were cited for drug violations…Hmmm
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/02/student-arrested-for-mdma-overdose-at-wesleyan-is.html
Posting bail doesn’t mean he paid $175,000. In most cases, those charged with a crime turn to a bail bondsman. Generally, if you are accepted, you pay the bondsman 10% of the bail. So that would be $17,500 if you’re right about the amount. The bondsman puts up the entire amount in exchange for the 10% fee. He keeps the fee and when you are exonerated or convicted, he gets his money back.
If the accused flees the jurisdiction, the bondsman is out the money. Because he doesn’t want to take a loss, he will come after you.
Sometimes bondsman require surety. So, he might say "To pay out X dollars, I want a mortgage on your parents’ home. Of course, parents have to agree. Then if you flee he gets the house.
And, if it’s not obvious, sometimes people borrow from someone else to pay the bail bondsman. So, he or his family may not have actually come up with $17,500 to pay the bondsman.
As others have told you the fact that so many students were cited for drug violations means the college is trying to enforce the rules.
On any given day, ~7-10% of the students at almost every college in the country, including Amherst ;), could be cited for a drug violation. Some colleges more than others diligently enforce their drug policy. What’s your point?
Not necessarily. Perhaps he used crowdfunding. 
But you would agree, drug use at Wesleyan University is at a different order of magnitude to most other colleges?
@Englishman, This is what you posted exactly an hour ago on a different forum:
No mention of drugs.
I liked it! A very fair-minded and balanced editorial. Clever use of the Wesleyan coat of arms:http://www.courant.com/opinion/cartoons/hc-wesleyan-drugs-20150226-story.html
With respect to the impact on Wesleyan applications and decisions, if you were a student or more likely a parent, who exactly one month today (March 27th 2015) were to be told whether your son or daughter has been admitted to Wesleyan and just 30 days prior you had read and worried about this latest incident, don’t you think you would be somewhat more worried and concerned about attending Wesleyan University than you had before and when you applied in December, I know I would.
This time last year ds had applied and was accepted April 1, at Wesfest were faced the reality of attending Wesleyan, my point is that as a parent you worry and this certainly doesn’t help, as intparent suggested this will play havoc with determining yield and thus determining how many students to offer acceptance to.
Yield would likely drop (fewer accepting offers) but the University will likely offer acceptance to more students in order to fill places, I suspect some 2450+ students will be offered acceptance for 745 places, thus yield will drop to close to 30%, most students these days apply to 8-10 schools, do you think they will accept Wesleyans offer at the same rate they did in years past, I think not. This will lead to lower selectivity (acceptance LY @23.7%, will likely drop to 25%+) and thus lower rankings in USNWR and others, it compounds the deteriorating regard with which the school was held and I take no glee in suggesting such, its just what happens
^I must say, all of this speculation about where Wesleyan’s rank will be on the USNews poll is in pretty poor taste while one student remains hospitalized.
I think most parents would realize the reality which is that this incident has little to no impact on admissions or bearing on their high school seniors, despite what you wish would happen. A Wesleyan student was murdered on campus in 2009 and that didn’t have an impact. Amherst had a tremendous amount of negative press from all of the sexual assault allegations (as has Wesleyan to some degree) and that didn’t affect Amherst’s admission stats. I know your goal is for Wesleyan is to fall out of the top 50, but I just don’t think this incident will do it. I’d like to add that selectivity accounts for, what is it, 1% of US News rankings methodology?