Further, education needs be expanded to teach students how to recognize when a student is at risk foralchohol blood poisening, and then how to properly respond. The myths that vomiting following alchohol abuse or “sleeping off” the effects of too much alchohol is safe, must be busted. Carson Starkey might be with us today if his “brothers” had continued to the hospital, but once he vomited they mistakenly believed he would be alright; apparently they were unaware that the alchohol was not only in his stomach, but also in his blood stream.

Finally, I suggest that changes be made that would encourage students to take friends to the hospital for help without risk of consequence to their clubs or organizations. Similar to unwed mothers who are encouraged to bring their unwanted newborns to firestations and hospitals without risk of penalty, rather than placing them in dumpsters,shouldn’t we also seek ways to save the lives of our college students?!

It is time to think outside the box and realize that “Just Say No” is not a realistic approach to drug and alchohol use on college campuses.

Although my opinion is that greek organizations add little to the university experience, I understand that for some it provides a base of support. With that said, I’d like to point to a statement I found in the SAE fraternity website:

Statement on Former Cal Tau Members
EVANSTON, IL – The Sigma Alpha Epsilon headquarters has learned of the arrest of four former members of the organization as it relates to the death of Carson Starkey. In media reports, they are identified as members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, but that information is inaccurate. Following the alleged incident that took place on the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo campus, the headquarters revoked the membership, or expelled, all chapter members. Therefore, the men charged in the death have no affiliation with the organization. Furthermore, the headquarters suspended the chapter’s charter after revoking membership from all of its members late last year.

Additionally, university officials are attributed with revoking the chapter’s charter. While a college or university has the right to withdraw its recognition of a fraternity, it does not hold the charter and, therefore, cannot revoke it. The Supreme Council of Sigma Alpha Epsilon grants charters and suspends charters for its chapters.

I find it cowardly to attempt to wash your hands by a simple rule; I would urge SAE to recongnize the fault of the SAE Cal Poly chapter and support in any way possible to change the rituals that caused this tragedy rather than keeping silent and helping to maintain “traditions” that ultimately only harm you. Do what a “True Gentleman” would do and take responsibility.

As for clubs, I would argue that most clubs serve the purpose to further the educational experience and learn by doing philosophy at cal poly, and those that don’t offer membership that allows basically anyone to join for at most a nominal fee. If I wanted to join a greek org, I would need to be accepted into that group, right? This is very different then a club. Also, when is the last time you heard of someone being killed at a club event? As far as I can see, Greek organizations do little if anything to enhance the educational experience here at Cal Poly.

As for the why pay for Professors outside of my major, that’s just silly. We all take classes outside of our major, be it GE classes or a minor, professors are the key to educating students.

Let me summarize. Greek organizations do basically nothing to further the Educational Experience here at Cal Poly. Professors do, many clubs do, and in some ways ASI does to. College is ultimately about learning, Greek organizations are about partying, interacting socially, and having fun, why should that take money away from learning?

If hiring people to advise and help change the greek organizations is so valuable, the greek organizations should pay for it. Completely.

One last thing, 12% isn’t really that large of a percentage of students. That means that greek orgs only contain more people then 2 of the colleges on this campus (not just engineering).

You’re an ignorant idiot. It’s a valued asset for people to be paid to advise and help change 12% of this campus who are Greek. We are one of the largest represented groups on this campus besides Engineers. So…think before you leap.

Many support the idea that Carson Starkey chose to drink, placing all blame for his death on his own decision to participate in the event. It is most likely true that no one shoved the liquor down his throat, but it certainly was not his “choice” to down an immense amount of alcohol. Hazing is characterized by peer pressure, and even if a pledge agrees to participate in hazing events, it is not true consent if he was subject to peer pressure. Would Starkey have chosen to drink so much on his own free time? Of course not. This was not his decision. He wanted to be a part of the fraternity and was subsequently pressured into drinking himself to death. The people whose actions led to his death should be punished for the crimes they committed, because they are ultimately responsible for the outcome of the “brown bag” event.

One year in prison is the maximum sentence these young men will serve if convicted. They will lose their freedom for a while, but soon enough they will be free to live out their lives as they wish. Carson Starkey had his life taken away, and he will never get that back. It is true that there was no malicious intent involved in what happened, but that does not negate the fact that laws were broken and a life was lost. It is disheartening that some of our fellow students may be haunted by criminal records for the remainder of their lives, but perhaps we can all use this as a reminder to consider the repercussions of our actions.