Journal #5 Investigative Report: Has Penn State become stricter after Dado's Death?

1) 1) The plot of my paper will be Penn State. I want to mainly focus on drinking in East Halls and in the frat houses because Dado was a freshman, and he did in fact leave a frat house, before he sadly passed away. The frat houses as well as east are filled with underage drinkers, and I would love to know how Penn State is attempting to handle the situation. East halls is filled with freshman, in Bigler, my building, there are about 65 freshman to a floor! I only have four floors, but most other buildings have twice as many floors! There are 14 freshman buildings. This leaves for thousands of freshman who could potentially be partaking in underage drinking. I do not expect drinking to stop, but I do hope that people are safe. Frat row is crazy as well. Teens fill the streets late at night as they walk from frat to frat. The houses are dark, packed, and loud, basically the perfect danger zone. People are always sloppily drunk, throwing up, and falling all over the place. Are these the proper party conditions? Personally, I know that teens are going to drink, but at home it was a lot safer. If a friend was ever sick, most of the time someone could always find a parent to help or a way to cover it up. Here, we can not do that. If a friend is getting sick, most of the time they get caught by the cops, or written up by an RA. The school should make a program that you can not get in trouble with the law or school if you get caught sick. We should have warnings before legally getting in trouble.

2)1) “Yeah, the rules for drinking have changed since Dado’s death. East never was a dry until this year. I am 21, so I would be able to have alcohol in my room. Now I cant. Anywhere there are freshman, there cant be alcohol. They weren’t as strict last year” –Megan, RA, age 21

“If you get caught throwing up in the bathroom, the RA’s automatically have to call the ambulance” –Megan, RA, age 21.

“Now frats have to make lists and they have to watch who can get in. We never had those security guys either. They have to make sure the frats are following the rules. They have to have an emergency number, a taxi, and drinks other than alcohol. The frats used to be chill. If you get caught, you have to go to a course and pay a fine.” –Paul, RA, age 20

Zane: “I can’t drink for a while now.”

Me: “Why”

Zane: “This.” (Yellow sheet of paper, was charged with an underage.)

-Zane, Freshman, 18

3)Fact#1: Dado’s death caused the University, IFC, and State College Borough to take serious looks at the way they handle alcohol abuse by students, and has resulted in significant policy changes from all three. (onwardstate.com)

Fact #2: resident Spanier announced to the Board of Trustees a 30-component strategy to curb the drinking problem. The policy includes mandatory alcohol training for all students treated for alcohol poisoning or cited for underage drinking, as well as the introduction of a responsible action protocol that keeps students who call for medical assistance from facing judicial affairs. In addition, IFC has altered its social policy to focus on education, allowing for fraternity members to take a class to become Greek Event Monitors for socials, as well as ID checks at the door and bans on Wednesday socials and away bars. The Commonwealth has also spoken up, with State Senator Jake Corman (R-Centre County) proposing increasing the fines for alcohol related offenses to $1000. (onwardstate.com)

Fact#3: The most noticeable difference is that professional bouncers are no longer required to work at each and every event. Instead, fraternity brothers (which can be from the chapter hosting the party) can undergo an IFC training program to be a certified Greek Event Monitor. Monitors are posted throughout the event, rather than just at the entrance and exit. Like bartenders, they will be required to be sober throughout the course of the night. In addition, the policy addresses the disconnection between guests invited and guests actually in attendance. (http://onwardstate.com/2010/08/30/new-ifc-social-event-policy-in-place/)

Fact#4: Penn State's school year is off to a sad start with tonight's announcement that freshman Joe Dado, missing since early Sunday morning, was found dead by repairmen. Joe Dado had been missing since 3 am Sunday when he was last seen leaving a frat party at Phi Gamma Delta. As of Monday afternoon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been called in to help locate the missing college student, a state police helicopter search was underway, and police, family and k-9 units were combing the campus grounds in the hopes of finding Joe Dado. Early Monday evening, news no one wanted to hear, Joe Dado's body was found. The Penn Stater blog reported that Joe Dado fell 15 feet to his death near a mechanical room outside Hosler building. He suffered severe head trauma. Joe Dado's body was found by repairmen responding to a service call at about 6 p.m. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2199901/joe_dados_death_marks_sad_start_to.html?cat=8)

4) I would like to further investigate changes that have taken place with drinking on the Penn State campus. I want to learn more about the regulations that the school has now taken into play. My RA was saying that now, if they see someone getting sick they must automatically call the ambulance. This is not a good idea because students will then get in trouble with the police as well as the school. This discourages students from attaining medical help when needed. I want to also further investigate changes that took place with the Fraternities. Lastly, I also wonder if there have been more or less underage drinking citations since the new policies have been enforced.