Letter to Ms. Elizabeth Vagas

Letter to Ms. Elizabeth Vagas

Dear Ms. Vagas:

I saw your Broadcast piece, "The Scott Kruger Story", on ABC that was

shown in September 1997 and would like to respond because I think that

two key aspects were not discussed: Scott's parents and Scott himself.

In my opinion, they are the only people to be held responsible for his

death. Although I agree that MIT turned a blind eye on the problems

because they obviously knew they existed, especially in this

fraternity; it was Scott's personal and free choice to live there, to

start drinking, and to continue it in the form of binging until his

blood alcohol level hit .41 (Kalb, p.69).

Teenage binge drinking is a serious problem and unfortunately

widespread on US campuses. "The deaths are just pilling up here," says

Hank Nuwer author of Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities,

Hazing and Binge Drinking ("Binge Drinking's Campus Toll", 2002). A

Harvard study found that 70% of students at 119 colleges binge drink.

Among Greek students, the numbers are even higher: 86% of fraternity

members and 80% of sorority members living in chapter houses are

likely to engage in binging, which was defined as more than 5 drinks

in a row for men and more than 4 drinks in a row for women (Kowalski,

p. 6-7). As you can see events like the "Animal House night" are not

just a problem for MIT or the Fiji House. "Alcohol is the No. 1 issue

on every campus I've been on," says John Williamson, executive vice

president of the Indianapolis-based North-American Interfraternity

Conference, which represents 66 fraternities on 800 campuses in the

USA ("Binge Drinking's Campus Toll", 2002).

The Harvard study also found that students drink to get drunk (47%),

drink because of the status associated with drinking, drink because it

is a tradition and culture or because of peer pressure, and/or

academic stress ("Binge drinking on college campuses"). Indeed, MIT

ignored the numerous letters and warnings by former students, but they

probably did, because fighting against such big and widespread