Community Chat

[Trinity11]

---

@hckynut wrote:

---

@on the bay wrote:

Manslaughter at the very least!

@on the bay 

Who do you charge for that crime? Unless he was forced somehow, other than vocally, I have to assume he drank it on his own. I have no idea or details, but someone has to be indicted for a crime, and that would be?

hckynut 

hckynut 

---

---

@hckynut , the young man was underage. The fraternity could be charged and the kids who were hazing him could be charged with negligent homicide. This does depend on state law.

[hckynut]

This thread is sad for me today. Right now I am going to get dressed to go to a wake of a good friend of mine's widow. He died several years ago, and she died a few days ago.

We traveled many places to hockey games and auto racing. I know both of their sons real well, ref'd many of their Youth Hockey Games. One just retired from over 30 years working at Kellogg's and the other is still working.

I knew them very well and I never find it easy attending the wakes/funerals of my long time friends.

RIP  Barb ❤❤

hckynut(john) 🥅🏒

[hckynut]

@Trinity11 

Thank you for that info. It's just plain sad!

hckynut 

[golding76]

John,

I am sorry for the loss of your friend Barb.    May she rest in peace and may her family and friends take comfort in the joy of her memory.

[PamfromCT]

@Mominohio, I am in 100% agreement with you.  Nobody in our entire family joined a fraternity nor a sorority.  Along with getting an education, we think the college experience should be to be open to getting to know all kinds of people, not to be narrowed.  Not to mention the temptation to party and drink way too much.

I know some may be offended and note their positive experiences.  Good for them.  

[PreKteacher]

How terrible! I'm so sorry for his family. 

I do have one problem with this report, though. I don't understand how they can report that he had no underlying conditions, when he was clearly obese. I'm not speculating on what killed him, and I certainly hope the parents will learn his cause of death and get some closure. I just don't understand why they would dismiss obesity as an underlying condition, when it's actually detrimental to one's health. 

[songbird]

I graduated from a "Party School"   I knew of the reputation of the school beforehand.  But they had a very good reputation academically too.  I was fine there.  I belonged to scholastic sorority.  I didn't join a social one.  The fees plus living in house were kind of expensive. So I jut stayed in the dorms.  All of these fraternities are actually important.  Years before the Internet, they helped you in finding a good job.  Then, it was called Networking. They still serve that function. There was never any trouble of any kind concerning their women's houses.  Just the men.   Their Fraternity Row has some incidences (including at least one death) involving hazing and alcohol.  I met my husband there.  He was at graduate school when I met him.  He was in his final year there while I was just a Freshman.  And yes, we met at a fraternity party.  For the most part, kids make the transaction socially in college pretty well.  But there bound to be problems too.  We have Frat houses too at the school I'm at.  In all the years I've been there, I've heard of deaths of students, but not in anyway connected to Fraternity houses.

[golding76]

PamfromCt and mominohio,

With great joy I went off to college in the early 1960s without one scintilla of desire to join a sorority.  If anything, my highly individualistic self actively wanted no part of "Greek" life.  

Not that I had any animosity toward those who chose to be part of such a band of sisters.  I clearly remember the girls on my floor who joined Kappa Delta.  They were always fun to be around but were definitely different from me in regard to their ideals and goals.

My sons were born with the same sort of "fraternity-averse" gene that was part of my identity.

I have noted over the years, however, that those who joined a sorority or fraternity very often have a coterie of old friends to return to for help, encouragement and friendship.  So, it can't be all bad.

[patbz]

I was in a sorority my four years as an undergrad and it was a great social and development experience for me.  My sorority has a strong emphasis on good scholarship and the only events we sponsored where alcohol was allowed were two formal events that were held in private homes.  When I was in college there was a strong Greek system and yes, the fraternities did drink, sometimes to excess ( I'm not excusing them ). My father also graduated from my large state University and, like me, joined a fraternity ( he was a founding member of his chapter, which was #1 in the country when I was there ). He came from a poor family and was the first in his family to graduate from college (  degree in physics).  He was proud all his life about his time in his fraternity, as am I, of my time in mine). I had to say this, because there is good, along with the bad.

[suzyQ3]

I will admit to bias against what I see as the Greek culture. Of course, nothing is across the board, but in general I found it to subjugate the individual and glorify the group.

I clearly remember the idea that yes, of course, you could still be friends with those not in your sorority, but why would you want to?

Cliques are cliques, no matter the name. They epitomize exclusion. The Greek houses all had their own calling cards -- whether it referred to looks or anything else.

College should be for expanding your horizon both in education and in interactions with others, not limiting it in any way.