If you have ever doubted that colleges or other schools of higher education have become businesses -big business, then how do you explain such callous disregard for the very students they are expected to educate and dare we hope protect? Again this week we we have learned the excruciating details of the death of a fraternity student left for 12 hours at the bottom of the stairs where he had fallen following a hazing that involved copious amounts of alcohol.
Currently the focus is on prosecuting the young men of that fraternity for leaving the young man at the bottom of the stairs without calling for help. They should be prosecuted. But holding them responsible does not address the larger problem.
As I see it the administration of the school, Penn State ,this college this time, needs to be held responsible. What happened to administrations taking charge and making it clear that alcohol is not tolerated at their school. Since when, unless the financial bottom line is the only thing that matters, are children allowed to behave so irresponsibly or even illegally. When young people go to school even at the legal age of adulthood,18, who among us believes that gives them the unfettered right to do whatever they p,ease whenever they please. We ,in society, live within the bounds of rules and regulations and also ethical and moral boundaries.
For decades it was also understood that sending your child to school meant that they were under the watchful eye of the parental authority you transferred to the school. Somewhere along the line schools, and much of society, have abdicated their responsibilities to provide guidance and safety for young people. So given all that , why is it such a surprise that young people at schools of higher education are simply out of control?
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