[Vision2020] Officials seek ways to stem frat falls

[Art Deco]

Maybe they ought put baby rails on all the frat and sorority windows and
decks just like there are on baby (and elder) beds.

Why did it take so long to discover there was a problem?  And how long will
it take to figure out that this is a part of the huge problem of alcohol
abuse in this country, and how the beverage and hospitality lobbyists have
bought off politicians to prevent sensible solutions and prevent the
raising taxes to pay for at least part of the damage?

w.


On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Sidebar:  There is a familiar name in this article.  See if you can spot
> it.
>
> Courtesy of today's (November 29, 2012) Lewiston Tribune.
>
> -------------------------------------
> Officials seek ways to stem frat falls
>
> While officials are looking at what they can do in response to the falls
> that have injured several Palouse college students this semester, some said
> preventing such accidents is ultimately a matter of altering dangerous
> behavior.
>
> "Obviously, we need to do more with them to help them think through what
> are the possibilities for accidents," said Washington State University Dean
> of Students Melynda Huskey. "This is a challenging age. Young men in their
> late teens and early 20s are not always the best assessors of personal
> risk."
>
> Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson said he agrees that student behavior needs to
> change, but he will still start a discussion with the city's department
> heads next week to brainstorm ideas.
>
> "It's something we can take a look at from the building code standpoint,"
> Johnson said. "But again, some of these people have been finding other ways
> to get out on top of roofs, or putting themselves in harm's way."
>
> The incidents began in September, when a University of Idaho student
> suffered serious injuries after falling from the roof of the Alpha Tau
> Omega fraternity. Two days later, a WSU student was hospitalized after
> falling three stories from a window in the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.
>
> In early October, a WSU student fell from the third-story balcony of the
> Buffalo Creek apartments in Pullman, and had to be taken to a Spokane
> hospital due to the seriousness of his injuries. In what officials called a
> miracle, another WSU student survived an 11-story plunge from Orton Hall
> when tree branches broke his fall.
>
> And in the most recent incident, a WSU student sustained critical head
> injures Sunday morning when he fell backward off a second-story balcony of
> the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. The 19-year-old had emergency brain
> surgery in Spokane and doctors placed him into a medically induced coma
> while he recovers.
>
> Alcohol consumption was a factor in all but the Orton Hall incident,
> according to authorities.
>
> Fraternities contacted by the Lewiston Tribune did not immediately respond
> to calls for comment on measures they are taking to increase safety.
>
> But Huskey said each Greek organization has to go through a process called
> "university-approved housing" before it is allowed to house freshmen.
>
> "We review the basic health and safety code materials with those houses,
> and make sure they meet all of the basic standards for safety," she said.
>
> Each house also has a risk management official, and most houses are
> required by their national corporations to have safety and risk management
> training for all their members.
>
> Steve Knapp, a partner at the Brett Murphy personal injury law firm in
> Spokane, said a building's owner is typically obligated to provide a safe
> place to live.
>
> "They owe a pretty high duty to look for dangerous conditions and to make
> them reasonably safe for the people who have a right to be there," Knapp
> said.
>
> Building owners can be liable if they know unsafe behavior like underage
> drinking is happening on the premises, yet do nothing to stop it. But in
> cases where alcohol is involved, Washington law generally puts
> responsibility with the person who decided to get drunk, he said.
>
> "If you were intoxicated at the time of the accident, if it's completely
> your fault, you can't recover (damages)," Knapp said.
>
> Liability issues aside, Huskey said the very nature of the falls makes
> them difficult to deal with.
>
> "One of the things about accidents is it's very hard to know precisely how
> to prevent a specific circumstance before it happens," she said.
>
> The university's Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life has been
> revisiting safety issues with houses, including weekly meetings with their
> presidents. And a task force appointed by WSU President Elson Floyd in the
> wake of a recent student death by alcohol poisoning is taking an in-depth
> look at university policies.
>
> Johnson expressed hope that students will wake up to the dangers they
> face, and start looking out for one another.
>
> "You'd tend to think that people in their own fraternity or apartment
> buildings would say 'That's stupid, get back in,' or something like that,"
> he said.
>
> Johnson said he believes the combination of energy drinks and alcohol is
> contributing to the number of accidents. The city has already
> unsuccessfully tried to convince bartenders to stop serving the highly
> caffeinated beverages at 11 p.m., he said.
>
> But the problem is ultimately a behavioral issue, Johnson added.
>
> "You can legislate, and there's still stupidity out there," he said.
>
> Huskey echoed that thought, adding that colleges have been dealing with
> alcohol-related accidents for centuries.
>
> "It's sort of built into the age and the history of the institution of
> universities," she said. "So we're up against a lot to work on here, but
> that doesn't mean we give up. We keep looking at the research, keep trying
> new things, keep working at it."
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares"
> http://www.MoscowCares.com
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>



-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20121129/5847211d/attachment.html>