<p>To the extent my previous post suggested that Andre Narcisse’s death was alcohol-related, I apologize. Obviously, at this point we don’t know the cause of this promising young man’s death. And whatever the cause, it is a profound tragedy.</p>
<p>The annual death rate for college-age kids in America is somewhere around .09%. If Yale students were representative of the average, that would mean 4-5 deaths of undergraduates per year. Now, we know that Yale students are probably not representative of the average – they are wealthier, less violent, probably healthier. But they are not THAT far off the average. Every once in a while, a Yale undergraduate is going to die. It’s always tragic when someone that age dies, but it happens anyway.</p>
<p>Re: post 16
Newsday reports that Andre Narcisse was a 2008 graduate of Exeter Academy.</p>
<p>From the Yale Daily News Sunday, Nov. 1:
Does anyone know what kind of “safety” was the dance supposed to celebrate/promote?</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>It’s not. In fact all of the schools in the Ivy League have policies that are pretty close to the same. All prohibit underage drinking. It’s the enforcement that varies. Articles in the Yale newspaper and Yale posters on CC report that, while technically forbidden, underage drinking and drunkenness are not punished at Yale. There are no consequences for violating the policy. It’s all winked at. The students who like to party think it’s great.</p>
<p>marite: It was a reference to the 1980s single “Safety Dance.” It was an 80s-themed party.</p>
<p>Thanks, wjb. I thought it weird that a so-called safety dance would yield 8 students needing medical attention! This makes better sense.</p>
<p>wjb in #21 –</p>
<p>The reason you drew that conclusion is because the YDN article drew a broad dotted line between the deceased student and possible cause. I’m not sure whether Dean Miller was saying something indirectly, or the YDN created an instant inference.</p>
<p>We react with dismay and wonder how this could happen, when it is true that even young beautiful kids like this student can die of causes unrelated to alcohol – it is possible to die at that age of pneumonia, meningitis or H1N1.</p>
<p>coureur in #24, I’m not sure if that’s correct, I’d like you to provide some links to any remarks like that. It’s only fair. </p>
<p>I told my S that if he drank excessively at school, I was going to remove the Y from the beginning of my car sticker …</p>
<p>Condolences to his family and the Yale community</p>
<p>My condolences to the family and community.</p>
<p>memake - post #8 - excellent post !!!</p>
<p>AnuddahMom, Yes, and kids that age can die of sudden cardiac arrest or aneurysms, or any number of other natural causes. I did see the article you mentioned in which there was a clear implication that the cause was alcohol poisoning. Whether the death was a tragic failure of an organ system or a consequence of a youthful error in judgment almost doesn’t matter at this point. The young man is gone.</p>
<p>Sad news indeed. My condolences to the family. The school must bear responsibility on this one. It is ironic and shameful that the party is thrown the name of “safety”. It is not hard to imagine an innocent kid who had never been to a party like this, empty a few glasses, just to conform with the crowd. A lot of kids are not prepared to deal with peer pressure of this nature and magnitude.</p>
<p>The YDN has a wonderful tribute [Yale</a> Daily News - Peers remember Narcisse '12 fondly](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/11/02/peers-remember-narcisse-12-fondly/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/11/02/peers-remember-narcisse-12-fondly/).
Our prayers and condolences to his family and friends.</p>
<p>How incredibly sad. My thoughts and prayers are with this young man’s family and friends. What a devastating loss for them and for the Yale community.</p>
<p>How devastating for the family! How overwhelming it must feel for the suitemates and freinds, as well. So sad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s not hard to imagine that, but it is pretty hard to find any overlap between that imaginary student and the person described in the Yale Daily News article.</p>
<p>Also – people should notice that the “Safety Dance” occurred eight days before Narcisse’s death, and so was not connected with it in any way. Not that there wouldn’t have been parties this past weekend, on Halloween, too.</p>
<p>There’s really a lot of jumping to conclusions here. Without an official cause of death, it really is hypocritical to express sympathy and to speculate about the cause and who is to blame at the same time.</p>
<p>There seem to be many who have concluded that this young man died of alcohol related causes. Let’s be clear: At this point in time, no one knows how he died! Paperchaserpop- how can you conclude that the school bears some responsibility, when no one knows the cause of death?! JHS is correct- the safety dance was over a week before the death, so it is not connected in any way. Everyone needs to reserve their judgments until more information is available.</p>
<p>No child dies from “emptying a few glasses” just to fit in with the crowd. Sure, the desire to conform is a factor in drinking on college campuses. But that doesn’t explain the kind of recklessness that leads a kid to drink himself/herself to death. Why college kids continue to drink so heavily and so irresponsibly is not clear to me. Parents and colleges share the responsibility for finding a solution. Exactly what it is, I don’t know.</p>
<p>Paperchaserpop: Please read the entire thread. The Safety Dance took place a full week before the student’s death, and it was not “thrown in the name of safety.” It was an 80s-themed party, named after the 1980s hit single “Safety Dance.”</p>
<p>Amen.</p>
<p>Yale is a small community and within the Residential Colleges, the students are more like family. There are frequent posters here whose children lived in Branford and were friends with Andre and so I would love for us to be a source of comfort to those who are mourning his loss.</p>