Once directly affected by the campus alcohol related tragedy, friends and families often become active in spreading awareness about the problems. While these efforts are meaningful, change can become more wide spread and long-lived if we operated in coordination.

Those who believe change is necessary should consider combining efforts, even in an informal way primarily exchanging ideas and successes. We all have a distinct primary focus, which combined can make a real difference.

As evident in CompelledToAct.com, my goal is to raise general awareness, most specifically with regards to the unenforced federal law. If my referral is the only one that Washington receives, then the US Department of Education will soon forget about their statutory responsibility as they had for the past seventeen years.

While I firmly believe that the above effort can have a positive effect, I also realize that many other efforts are valuable and necessary. If you have a desire to share experiences and gradually combine efforts leading towards a common goal, please respond to this blog or confidentially to info@compelledtoact.com.

Stephen Guest

PS-You do not have had suffered a direct personal tragedy to join, especially since you’ve obviously conclude to act now, before events leave you no choice.

Greetings:

These weeks mark the beginning of another academic year. Students are arriving at campuses, most with similar hopes as their parents as being an opportunity to build a bright future. Many come with a secondary objective--party time. In CompelledToAct there is a sad listing of recent deaths on or near campus. The list was started last spring when the web was used to locate prior tragedies and news alerts to inform me of those more recent. Once the alerts began arriving, I was stuck by their frequency, and the sad listing grew week by week and even day by day.

Currently the separate listing for fall 2007 is mostly blank. However, inevitably and sadly it will expand. Who in anticipation of a bright future will have the opportunity cut short? Already, one fatality at Bradley University has been added. Sheridan Dahlquist was preparing for the fall soccer season when tragedy stuck as result of a teammate’s prank after a night of drinking.

As with other tragedies, a review is necessary of the university and team rules related to alcohol and how strictly those rules were enforced. Did tragedy strike dispute the exercise of all reasonable efforts to limit control such behavior? This is the base question which requires addressing in all such tragedies as we call for colleges and universities to be accountable for student safety.

CompelledToAct.com has been active since early July. Given that I am a novice in website development, notice was made of many inadequacies as to ease of use. This morning, changes were made which hopefully enhances the accessibility.

As always, comments are appreciated either through this blog or email to info@compelledtoact.com

Stephen Guest

Thank you for your comments SMU Dad.  His experience in attempting to raise awareness on the issue demonstrates the challenges in working towards effective change.  The biggest challenge is that most do not become involved until directly affected.  Thankfully, more individuals such as SMU Dad are not waiting until it’s too late.

 In reading about the tragedies across the country, one gets the impression that the lives lost are viewed as collateral damage.  That out of control drinking is a given at college campuses and the culture is too ingrain for change to be possible.  However, policymakers as high as the US Congress have recognized that change is necessary.  The good news is that those who wish to effect change do not need to lobby for an effective federal statute.  There has been such a law since 1989 (see federal law section of CompelledToAct.com) with the most significant sanctions possible, loss of federal funding.  However, the law has not been enforced.

 Individuals such as SMU Dad need to show college administrators that the law is no longer a secret.  Parents know about the law and they demand that colleges and universities comply, or US Department of Education may be asked to investigate why compliance is not effective in changing campus attitudes and practices.

 The indictments of the Rider University administrators is also a powerful message to college officials.   A link to the news story is at CompelledtoAct\Tragic_listing\Main_listing_victims.htm .  Join SMU Dad is attempting to make everyone aware of these developments.

 Today is two and a half years since Kristine lost her life.  Issues related to her fate are still unresolved.  Campus life at Paul Smith’s College moved forward so that two more students lost their lives in May 2007 under circumstances strikingly similar to may daughter’s tragedy in 2005.  Unless we who are directly affected by these losses press on, all of these deaths will be continued to be viewed as collateral damage.

 Kristine’s Dad

The website associated with this blog, ComplelledToAct.com, was created in reaction to many revelations in the aftermath of my daughter’s death on a college campus in 2005.

What I found was a confusing and unfair set of civil laws addressing the obligation of a college or university to use reasonable care when addressing issues of student safety.  Remarkably, the status of the law in many states is unclear as to whether a college or university can be held accountable for failure to use reasonable care in reaction to an obviously dangerous situation.

Additionally, a 1989 federal law was located that should effectively address illegal and harmful campus drinking practices.  However, in the seventeen years since passage, the law has not been enforced.  Details of the law and our efforts to compel the US Department of Education to review compliance for the first time is detailed in the “Federal Law” section of the website. 

If anyone is aware of a campus culture which evidences noncompliance with the federal law, I encourage you to contact the US Department of Education and request a compliance review at that school.  As our experience as shown, the Department requires much prodding before they are compelled to act.

The thoughts of viewers of this site are welcomed.