Must have a PR firm involved.
“This kid may have claimed he addressed his issues, but clearly he did not”
Right. He may have actually gone to rehab. But the upshot is that he isn’t better.
Re how he got into UConn, it’s possible that he got treatment, convinced them he’d stay sober, and got in. But it’s also possible that he deceived them somehow about his previous expulsion.
Ha Ha. They want people to send the Mac-n-Cheese to the food bank instead of to them.
Hanna, do you deal with students like Gatti? IMO, it’s perfectly reasonable for a student like Gatti to get in drunken problems at his first school, get clean, and look for a new start at a different school. And maybe that’s what happened with Gatti, and then he backslid. I don’t want to say that anyone who makes a mistake at one school should never ever be allowed at any school (unless the “mistake” is, like, murder or something).
“Hanna, do you deal with students like Gatti?”
In the sense of acting like drunken fools and getting expelled? Yes. This year I worked on college applications with one kid with a felony DUI, one kid who got drunk and committed breaking & entering, and one kid who got into a drunken brawl on campus. I also worked on law school applications with a kid who managed to graduate but who had two lengthy suspensions during college for various drunken idiocy.
If that’s the case, UConn would be well within its rights to expel him for that alone unless their applications don’t have a section where the applicant is asked to disclose whether he/she was in good academic/disciplinary standing at his/her previous college and whether he/she was subjected to disciplinary actions. Especially if the expulsion was caused by violent actions leading to multiple arrests.
I don’t know…but being arrested multiple times for violent actions…including assaulting an LEO in the course of being processed for arrest so badly that said LEO had to take several weeks to recover is more than merely “acting like a drunken fool”. In this specific incident, the video clearly showed he assaulted the manager multiple times including an attempt to spit in his face at the very end which prompted the Connecticut state LEO to abruptly shove him through the door to prevent further assaults.
No, I haven’t had a student who injured an officer. The drunken brawler landed a punch that put a kid in the emergency room, though.
“If that’s the case, UConn would be well within its rights to expel him for that alone”
It certainly would be.
“Thoughts?”
They transferred a pedophile into our public HS from the next town’s public HS. Because his rights had to be protected, our district wasn’t told until he started harassing students at our school.
Nothing surprises me.
Though, do you wonder about whether it would be better to mandate treatment than throw him out? There was a case with a Princeton student who attempted suicide, and her roommate found her, then she was suspended, and she wanted to return to classes but didn’t meet Princeton’s exact criteria for return. So of course she is suing.
Is there any reason not to treat the UConn student’s alcoholism as anything other than a disease? Do they throw out students who have mental illness?
That’s true, but there are lots of alcoholics who aren’t violent with law enforcement. Addiction alone doesn’t make you do that. If we were talking about repeatedly being drunk underage on campus, or repeatedly being caught with alcohol in the dorm, then I’d agree that’s the direct result of the disease.
To the best of my understanding, most recovery theories hold that addicts are morally responsible for crimes like assault that they commit while drunk.
Do we actually know he was expelled from UMass? I know he was arrested twice, but I don’t know that he was expelled. He MAY have withdrawn before any disciplinary action was taken and then enrolled in UCONN. I suspect…though i don’t know…that his skiing played a role in that. It’s only club level at UCONN but still. He enrolled in UCONN for second semester last year. I doubt–though I don’t know–that under normal circumstances you can apply to UCONN in late fall and be admitted for January.
Having an addiction to alcohol or other addictive substances alone doesn’t necessarily mean the addict has mental illness. This mode of thinking is one which would have driven my Pharmacology teacher who has an MD in Psychiatry from Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons up the wall as he stated several times in our class that a serious drug/alcohol addiction by itself doesn’t necessarily mean one can automatically assume a diagnosis of mental illness. Same with acting like an violent out-of-control entitled brat.
Also, if one could claim mental illness as a mitigating circumstance in a criminal case, then convictions and the serious penalties for them would be legally untenable as the DUI convict could plead “mental illness” in the form of a “temporary insanity” defense to seriously mitigate or even avoid criminal conviction altogether.
However, that’s not the practice in our legal system as plenty of folks convicted of crimes committed while drunk are in practice, held 100% legally responsible for their actions.
The body language, fidgeting, and eye contact with camera reminds me of a child who was forced to make an apology, seeming to act evasive, and is more sorry he was caught and shamed, not one who was genuinely contrite.
Almost reminds me of a few bullies in middle school who acted in a similar way when making apologies to me and other bullying victims in the dean’s office. That is before proceeding to repeat their bullying and other criminal acts which eventually earned them lengthy terms at Rikers and various upstate prisons when they were too old to be protected by the local educrats.
I saw it differently. I thought it was an honest “mea culpa” and he specifically acknowledged that he had issues that he needed to address.
He did appear very “child like” to me and it’s pretty clear he is immature. I am willing to accept that teenage males mature at different rates. He has a lot of catching up to do and let’s hope he gets the support he needs.
He does seem pretty sincere…until the ending. It’s weird. Reminds me of Charlie Sheen for some strange reason.
This part of the article above encapsulates my impressions of the student and his father:
I am also stunned people still argue that it was the alcohol which made him behave as belligerently and violently as he did.
My own experience with alcohol and from observing people who drink is that there is something to the phrase “In vino veritas”.
In short, alcohol’s reduction of inhibitions tends to reveal much more of one’s genuine character without the filter most maintain for polite appearances.
I have heard the phrase–a drunk mind speaks a sober heart. But I also think one could make the case that alcohol causes people to say things they don’t mean. Alcoholics lie and tell stories; it’s hard to know what they really believe.
I watched the kid’s apology and, maybe I’m a sap, but he seems contrite. The big question: will he seek help. He certainly needs it ASAP. I hope his parents realize that he shouldn’t return to any college/university until he is sober.
Apology not accepted:
It’s too bad the café manager/victim has left the country to live with his in laws. I suppose that means he won’t be present at Gatti’s trial so some charges will probably be thrown out. They can probably only convict him of drunk in public or disorderly behavior now.
I wonder if Gatti’s daddy paid for the plane ticket?
The jalapeno macaroni student was arrested again last month. Sad. Is it possible for someone to be un-rehabilitatable (as in, so addicted that they cannot get it out of their system) where alcohol is concerned? I wonder because I would have thought he’d have been in rehab for many months already yet they said he was going through withdrawal, which is what precipitated the most recent arrest.
http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-mac-n-cheese-kid-florida-arrest-0629-20160628-story.html
Yes, many people addicted to alcohol do not get better despite stints in rehab and awful consequences.