Recent articles about alcohol policies at NU

[helicoptermom]

<p>The</a> Daily Northwestern</p>

<p>Colleges</a> Struggle with Binge Drinking, Students Propose Medical Amnesty Policy - ABC News</p>

[arbiter213]

<p>I find the family’s choice to sue the school to be somewhat absurd, as Sunshine was a known heavy drinker on campus, even recklessly so. But you do have to feel for them.</p>

<p>And the school’s policies ARE insane and archaic. So if they settle out of court for just policy changes that would be a move for the better.</p>

[kukucachoo]

<p>Yeah i hope NU admin figure out something that works better… i’d hate to see this happen to another student at my four years there.</p>

[MomCat2]

<p>helicoptermom -
at least you didn’t start this thread the way you did your other one: “Better teach your child to drink…
if he or she is thinking about Northwestern U.”</p>

<p>Sheesh…</p>

[helicoptermom]

<p>Kukucachoo: I hope so too. And MomCat2: I apologize if the title of my thread on the Parents Forum caused offense. “Better teach your child to drink…” does not in any way reflect my views; indeed, I believe it is not only malicious but inaccurate to blame the parents for the death of their son, and I was appalled to see multiple posters do so on the Daily Northwestern site. Nevertheless, I would be genuinely alarmed about–and work to change–the alcohol policies at NU if my child were going there. I thought the ABC News article, which came out after I started the other thread, did an excellent job of presenting some alternative approaches that could help prevent similar tragedies in the future.</p>

[kukucachoo]

<p>Hm, yeah it was a bit harsh; I read them too. It was a multiple amount of factors that led to Sunshine’s death… not fair to pin it all on one thing as the posters (on the parents/Matthew himself) and the parents (on NU administration) are doing.</p>

[Sam_Lee]

<p>helicoptermon,</p>

<p>Daily Northwestern is also the only daily newspaper for the city of Evanston. The comments there may not necessarily come from the NU community.</p>

<p>

Since then, it has spread to 74 colleges and 30 high schools in 34 states…He said in order for the lawsuit to be successful, attorneys would have to prove that a university official, including a community assistant, knew the drinking was happening and did not stop it. Or, they’d have to prove that the university’s alcohol policy directly caused the death.

I suspect the legal ramification and consequence play a huge role on how schools decide on their policy. Will NU be more exposed to tort liability or negligence cases if they adopt amnesty program? Why only 74 colleges use it? I am not sure about this one but in general, sometime what seemingly “makes sense” may actually more likely put one in legal jeopardy.</p>

[helicoptermom]

<p>Sam Lee:</p>

<p>I’m not sure it matters, but the Daily Northwestern is a daily newspaper only during the school year; and Evanston is served year-round by the weekly Evanston Record.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the 74 schools cited in the article (now over 100, according to [Colleges</a> Struggle with Binge Drinking, Students Propose Medical Amnesty Policy - ABC News](<a href=“Can Medical Amnesty Bring Sense to Underage Drinking Debate? - ABC News”>Can Medical Amnesty Bring Sense to Underage Drinking Debate? - ABC News)) have not adopted amnesty programs but are participating in [Red</a> Watch Band - Helping to prevent toxic drinking](<a href=“http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/redwatchband/]Red”>http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/redwatchband/), a program of peer education and intervention that was founded very recently in response to Matthew Sunshine’s death. Medical amnesty is a separate discussion that is active on many campuses.</p>

<p>Obviously university administrators have an obligation to consider the legal ramifications of their actions. In this case, however, it does not seem clear that their approach has succeeded either in shielding them from tort liability or in safeguarding the lives of their students.</p>

[arbiter213]

<p>It may well have shielded them from Tort liability- I highly doubt (and hope) that the Mr. And Dr. Sunshine’s case fails… against the school. </p>

<p>One thing I’m not clear on is was Dr. Sunshine the founder of the red watch band program? It reminds me a lot of Georgetown’s EMS service run by students, and I personally like it, but I’m not sure it would’ve helped here. I know at least one of his friends checked in on him over the course of the night and, not having been involved in the drinking, didn’t know to even check if he was alright. </p>

<p>A lot of what I’m hearing now, especially from the family, simply doesn’t sync up with the facts as I was aware of them. It was and is undeniably a tragedy, and NU’s policy does need to change, but I would feel safe in suggesting that those two items are unrelated.</p>

[helicoptermom]

<p>This article from USA Today may help to explain the connection between Matthew Sunshine’s mother, Dr. Suzanne Fields, and the Red Watch Band program ([Red</a> Watch Band friends don’t let friends get too drunk - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-14-redwatchband_N.htm]Red”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-14-redwatchband_N.htm)):

When Suzanne Fields’ son died of an alcohol overdose last year, a few days after completing his first year of college, she decided she wanted to keep other students from suffering the same fate.</p>

<p>“I thought at the time my son died that his death was preventable, that I wanted to do something to prevent other students from dying the way he did,” she says.</p>

<p>So when Shirley Strum Kenny, the president of Stony Brook University, where Fields is a professor and administrator, asked if there was anything she could do to help, Fields suggested a program to empower students to help their peers when they’ve had too much to drink.

</p>

<p>According to reports published shortly after Matthew’s death ([SESP</a> freshman’s death caused by alcohol intoxication - Campus](<a href=“http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/05/30/Campus/Sesp-Freshmans.Death.Caused.By.Alcohol.Intoxication-3380882.shtml]SESP”>http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/05/30/Campus/Sesp-Freshmans.Death.Caused.By.Alcohol.Intoxication-3380882.shtml)), fellow students thought there was sufficient reason for concern to check on him during the night after he had to be helped back to his room:

Sunshine was drinking in Foster House Monday night before students helped him back to his room, according to a statement from Cmdr. Tom Guenther of the Evanston Police Department.</p>

<p>Students checked on Sunshine during the night and said he was sleeping fine, but he was unresponsive when a student went to check on him at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, according to the statement.

</p>

<p>A program like Red Watch Band could have heightened awareness of the possibility that he was not in fact “sleeping fine,” but suffering from acute alcohol poisoning, and prompted someone to call for the medical aid that would probably have saved his life.</p>

[arbiter213]

<p>“Students checked on him during the night” could well be limited to the one instance I was referring to, but maybe not. Thank you for elucidating the connection between Dr. Sunshine and the program- that was more or less what I had thought it was.</p>

[helicoptermom]

<p>‘Disappointed in NU’ makes a disturbing point in the comments to the recent Daily Northwestern article:

When the NU community wonders why Sunshine’s family is so outraged at Northwestern try to imagine burying your son and knowing that his dying body (or potentially already dead body) was assaulted and desecrated by perverted students who were subsequently protected by the Administration.</p>

<p>And, don’t kid yourself about the casual cruelty of the postings on the NU blogs including this one. I guaranty every reader that Sunshine’s family is reading what is posted about their son, his death and their competence as parents. No one has thought to question the parents of the perverted kids that lived and hurt their son. Once again it is easier to dump on the dead than face the facts of the culpability of the living ([The</a> Daily Northwestern](<a href=“http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticleComments&ustory_id=27dd4fbe-7c2e-42b2-a3c0-37158adab5af]The”>http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticleComments&ustory_id=27dd4fbe-7c2e-42b2-a3c0-37158adab5af)).

</p>

<p>My heart goes out to the Sunshine family, and I hope the NU administration takes every possible step to prevent any similar tragedies in the future.</p>