In fifth grade I tried to steal a candy bar from the convenience store across the street from my school.
My best friend of the time, Justin, had dared me to do it and not wanting to seem like a coward, I gave in. My life of crime lasted around thirty seconds as the cashier grabbed me by the shirt as I casually (not so casually) tried to walk out. My mom pulled up to the school and asked a question most mothers will have to ask at some point in their life, "Why is there a Korean lady escorting my 10-year-old son across the street?"
She, understandably, decided to get out of the car and investigate. The cashier told my mom about the candy bar and how I tried to shoplift, but before she could finish her story I put up my ultimate defense, "Justin made me do it." My mom who was calm until this point, then shot me a look I remember to this day.
Justin didn't make me do anything; I chose to do it and suffered the consequences.
After every big party weekend I hear somebody say, "Did you hear [insert random letters here] fraternity sent [insert number here] people to the hospital?" I hate this. A frat has never sent anybody to the hospital; people send themselves to hospitals, and the administration continues to blame the greek scene for it. This needs to stop. The administration needs to have the students take some personal responsibility for their actions.
Right now, with the current punishment structure, the University is doing a disservice to students by giving them the idea that when they get blacked out and wake up in a hospital or jail-cell that it is not entirely their fault; the fraternity is partly to blame.
The truth of the matter is that the fraternities are doing all that they can. Each party has a team of sober monitors, door duty, and sober drivers; we even have free pizza to stifle some of the drinking. But all the precautions set forth by the University and learned through our risk management's experience over the years cannot prevent the ultimate risk: some students just want to get really, really drunk.
I've been there. Heck, I once made the decision to make and consume a drink called "riot punch" which did exactly what it sounds like it would do, and no amount of pizza or sober monitors could stop that evil, and I wouldn't expect them to. Why? I'm a big boy; I can vote, go to war, buy booze, and go to prison, all on the same day if I want (Riot Punch + November 6th).
If college is supposed to prepare us for the real world (and there is some debate about that) there needs to be some sort of personal responsibility and accountability here. Frats don't get you drunk - you get yourself drunk. People in frats don't care how drunk you get - they usually just care how drunk they get.
You know how expensive parties are? If you are offered a shot or a beer, take it or turn it down - whatever you think is best. You are in the driver's seat of your own life, which means you get to make your own decisions and that is a huge chunk of why you went away to college in the first place.
If the decision didn't end the way you thought it would, don't blame Justin.
- Weiner is a senior from Chicago, Ill. majoring in political science