<p>Freshman</a> found dead in dorm room - News</p>
<p>Hopefully this prompts USC to re-evaluate their substance tolerance policy. I am no prude, and firmly believe that the drinking age should be 18, but from what I have heard here and elsewhere about the going-ons in New/North, it seems pretty appalling that the administration has not done anything about it to date.</p>
<p>My dad e-mailed me this article earlier today. Sad, sad story :(</p>
<p>Well apparently there was a stern e-mail sent out just days before this. Excerpts are included here:</p>
<p>I'm not going to lie, and I'm sure the following statement will arouse controversy. </p>
<p>I am sympathetic to the grieving, and am aware that this is a devastating loss to both family and friends. In that light, I will keep my post as tame as possible. But, and no one can argue with me here, his death was a result of his, albeit poor, decision. As a fellow USC student, I can not help but be disappointed that events such as these are, for the University, backwards steps. The fact that he overdosed only reinforces the callow, reckless and spoiled stereotypes that USC has so assiduously tried to rid itself of. To onlookers, this will be the year that a USC student OD'd - not the year in which USC achieved its lowest selectivity rate and matriculated a freshman class more competitive than that of Cal or UCLA. </p>
<p>What is disheartening to me is that this one event will serve as a blanketing definition for all USC students. It doesn't matter that most of us haven't even seen drugs before - all that matters is someone OD'd, that someone was an SC student, and therefore we must all be junkies. It is just a shame when so many of us have worked so hard, so diligently to extirpate USC's airheaded, flippant image, only to have everything unravel by the teenaged disillusionment of invincibility. So, I implore upon all USC students reading this - keep safe and exercise good judgement. Realize that your actions are not only representative of yourself, but of the school and all your peers.</p>
<p>It is true that an email warning a new zero-tolerance policy was sent to all building residents 3 days before this happened.</p>
<p>Be careful guys. Risk is fun, but it's not the only way to have fun.</p>
<p>Actually, mrgorilla, you may notice that very few of the local news stations or newspapers have written a story about this. USC is trying to keep this news within the USC community, and I think part of the reason is to prevent what you have mentioned: having those outside of the USC community take the foolish and tragic actions of one person and generalize them to the entire school. If not for this thread, I bet most of the CCers who are not at USC would never have known.</p>
<p>Actually, this was briefly mentioned in the parents forum.</p>
<p>My point still stands. If not for hyperlinks to the Daily Trojan and ATVN websites, no one would have really found out. My parents don't read CC. They don't know about it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If not for this thread, I bet most of the CCers who are not at USC would never have known.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Did I misread your post?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if it's USC trying to keep it quiet or if it's just it's not a big story by Los Angeles media standards. A Google News search shows a few results in some Southland newspapers, but nothing much else beyond that. The TV stations do check these sites (along with top Daily Trojan stories), so I imagine they knew about it. Unfortunately, the stations only seem interested if the story involves some sort of sexual assault or attack on a student.</p>
<p>I didn't hear anything at all about this. so, is new/north known for partying? or are all the dorms like that?</p>
<p>^ niubie, New/North has a reputation as being the most socially active dorm with lots of partying. No, not all the dorms are like that.</p>
<p>i would have had no idea other than this post.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I'm not here to argue about little things like misreading a post, but yeah that's what I meant. If not for this thread or the one in the parents forum, CCers not at USC would not have known about the event.</p>
<p>^I see.
I told D about this and she is not deterred. There are people that do drugs at most schools, even at Princeton. In fact, one openly admitted on CC forum. I think If you are a serious student and don't do drug, you should be fine. But this is LA, big city life and it's near Hollywood.</p>
<p>S lives in New and I did not hear about this until this post- thanks Groovy Geek. I'm out of the country but I called my son and he hadn't told me because he didn't want me to worry. The student lived in North, 2nd floor. S did not know him personally. (This could be just rumor but the talk is that it was heroin.) The mood is obviously pretty somber. </p>
<p>Although New/North has a party reputation, it is mostly due to the social noise going on, which can be avoided by closing your door. For those who are possibly deterred by these kinds of very unfortunate, but very rare events, like others who stated it above, drugs are NOT the norm. S and virtually all of his friends in New/North are high achievers, doing excellent in school- many with double majors, do not do drugs, and partying is NOT excessive.</p>
<p>I don't think this is a reflection in any way on USC. Something like this can happen at any school. My daughter is a freshman and I've heard lots of stories, probably many more she hasn't told me about. The fact that the Daily Trojan mentioned the presence of drug paraphernalia suggests to me that he had a pre-existing substance abuse problem. Alcohol poisoning would be more typical of freshman, IMO. Tragic waste of a young life - my heart goes out to his family.</p>