November 21, 2003

Dear Students:

This fall what we are experiencing has been in many respects a good time. Great weather, an unusual number of splendid achievements by students and faculty, the excitement of new building projects growing all around us, and tangible progress toward a number of University and community goals have made this one of the best of times.

In other respects, however, this fall has turned ominous. This letter addresses a second set of indicators of how things are going. The number of students requiring medical attention for abusing alcohol has jumped up this fall after several years of decline. In an ironic development, the seriousness or gravity of violent events involving students and alcohol has increased even as the absolute number of events has declined. In the last week, at least one intoxicated student resisted arrest in a way that could easily have led to felony charges and to personal injuries, and another (so far as I know, not intoxicated) threatened uniformed P & T officers with a baseball or softball bat when the officers appeared to take action involving some $375 in unpaid parking fines.

More than a few alcohol-related injuries to students have occurred, including one to an 18-year-old student during orientation—before this student had even begun classes. This fall, students face felony charges, one a charge of murder, in consequence of assaults in which news reports suggest strongly that alcohol was a factor. Several fraternities have been disciplined by their nationals and by the University for misconduct involving injury or danger to persons in their houses. The incidents that led to these actions have generally involved both minors and abuse of alcohol. And for the first time in recent memory more students in trouble because of alcohol abuse are of legal age than are minors.

These events add up to problems for all of us, and especially for students—for you. I do not know what discussions may have occurred among Alcohol Beverage Control officers, police officials from various jurisdictions, and prosecutors, but I feel an obligation to you to make clear that law enforcement officials inevitably will and must take action when the student social scene turns dangerous or indeed violent. Threatening a law officer, felony assault, and murder are serious charges. Convictions carry with them serious consequences. University officials, including Ms. Lampkin and Dean Rue, have been active throughout the fall as the circumstances described here have taken shape. It is time now for you yourselves—students—to recognize that this is your problem and to act both to protect yourselves and to protect your community.

I am writing because prior communications from Student Affairs seem not to have reached everyone, and because the last two football games of the season happen to take place here, in Scott Stadium, this week and next week. Most of us consider the final home game a time for celebrating—not a bad tradition in and of itself—but this celebration quickly turns toxic when it involves excessive or unlawful drinking. Several years ago, a small number of students invented what they called the “4th-year fifth,” a fad that turned tragic when one of our students (not a minor) died after consuming too much alcohol at a pre-game fourth-year fifth party held off-Grounds. I attended her memorial service; I saw and felt her family’s and her friends’ agony and bewilderment. This year, several are trying to promote the consumption of an entire bottle of hard liquor as a University tradition, which it is not and has not been. Consider this: To consume a fifth of liquor (25 ounces) is to risk serious injury or death. If consumed quickly, 15.5 ounces for a 150-pound male, or 11 ounces for a 120-pound female can be lethal. Smaller quantities of alcohol can be lethal depending on your weight and physical condition. The fourth-year fifth can kill you.

And you face other risks if you choose to participate in this fake tradition. One impulsive action, such as striking a police officer (a felony, with a minimum mandatory jail sentence of six months), can follow you throughout your life. My advice is to expect University officials and the police to take action when they encounter public drunkenness during the next two weeks, and to take especially serious actions whenever they encounter violence or the threat of it.

We—your parents, your teachers, and I—care about you profoundly. You should also care about yourself and about those around you. This is the basis for what we call student self-governance here, and it is time for student self-governance to work effectively before it is diminished because external authorities must intervene when safety and even lives are at issue. Do not abuse alcohol. Watch out for your friends. Do not leave an intoxicated or impaired friend alone. When necessary, seek immediate medical attention for yourself or another. You may save a life, even your own.

Celebrate. Come out on this Saturday and next Saturday, and enjoy great events that you can remember throughout your lives as capstones. But the stakes here are high. Be responsible about it.

Sincerely,

John T. Casteen III
President

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