Press Conference-May 25, 2007 Legislative Office Building
Comments by Stephen Guest: When addressing issues of underage drinking, most parents likely focus primarily on the role that peer influences have on their children. When our family became compelled to aggressively address the issue, we found that the attitudes and behavior of adults are a far greater concern than our children’s peers. While last year’s social host legislation made a necessary change to prohibit minors from consuming alcohol on private property, the laws sanctions directed at adults is most important. Parents who allow supposingly controlled parties involving alcohol are violating the rights of parents who do not want their children at such affairs. Additionally, being lax on alcohol use too often leads to that slippery slope resulting in less and less control over the outcome. Lessons about lack of consequences from illegally using alcohol learned in our communities carry over to college campuses. There, whatever limited controls and consequences that existed at home are no longer present. The social host statute needs to be vigorously enforced to avoid the terrible consequences of a federal law addressing drinking on college campuses which has not been effectively enforced. Researchers estimate that over 1,700 college age students lose their lives each year in alcohol related incidents. This statistic becomes much more meaningful when one’s daughter is included in that figure. In February 2005, our daughter, Kristine Guest, suffered the unfortunate fate of visiting a campus that had traveled down that slippery slope; and was out of control, based upon statements by college personnel. Once learning the facts of her tragic night, one can conclude that Kristine found herself in a situation that she did not expect. She made best of the circumstances until peer pressure led to a decision which cost her life. That college officials had every opportunity to stop the open underage and excessive drinking and associated reckless behavior, but failed to do so, only makes Kristine’s fate more tragic. While addressing the issues of underage and campus drinking, an adult failure at a much higher level was identified. Since 1989, a federal law has obligated colleges and universities to seriously address underage and excessive drinking on campuses as a condition to receiving federal funding, including student financial aid. Despite the presence of this effective statute, alcohol use on campus seems to continue unabated. How could this be? The answer proved to be ineffective enforcement of the statute by the US Department of Education. In the seventeen years since passage, no sanctions have been imposed. Our family has worked for over eighteen months to compel the Department to address compliance at the college Kristine had the misfortune to visit. We were finally notified in mid March that an on-site compliance review was scheduled for early April, the first ever performed by the Department. This was then delayed until the middle of this month when it in fact began. The Chronicle of Higher Education is publishing details of our efforts in the coming week’s issue. If anyone wishes to have a copy of the article when available, please see me after this presentation. However, the article was finalized prior to the following recent tragic developments. The timing of the initially scheduled on-site visit proved significant given that on May 4, two more students lost their lives on the same campus. Further, the circumstances were strikingly similar to 2005 involving my daughter. One can justly question whether the presence of the US Department of Education on that campus in April would have altered attitudes and behaviors sufficiently to prevent the May 2007 tragedies. Additionally, had the Department been effectively enforcing the statute over the past seventeen years, would the reaction of the college officials in 2005 been different? In 2005, Kristine Guest and Joshua Rau, both age 20. In May 2007,Lee Walker and Sean Cornell both 18. All four are no longer with us. Who is most responsible for these losses? The youth with their naturally exuberant behavior or the adults who did not take reasonable steps to control such behavior? At what level does the responsibility begin, in our homes? Communities? Colleges and universities? Policy makers at the state and national level? I suggest that adults at all levels bear most of the responsibility for these and other similar tragedies. Why should this matter to Connecticut parents of teens and young adults?
For seventeen years, the US Department of Education failed to enforce what should be an effective law to limit underage and excessive drinking on campuses. How many lives were lost and long-term harmful effects of alcohol use resulted from that lack of enforcement? Law enforcement officials, judges, and parents must ensure that future tragedies within our communities are not attributable to a similar lack of enforcement of the Connecticut’s social host law.
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In loving Memory of Kristine Guest |
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