Comments on: When helping freshmen is really hurting them

By: Mark the Shark

Mark the Shark — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:13:11 +0000

vintage movies, including the many non-classic vintage movies, can also be a happy viewing.

By: - - L

- - L — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:29:35 +0000

Nick , first let me say that your heart is in the right place . But Penn cannot regulate NSO because these freshman need to learn to regulate themselves . If they fail , well, hopefully they’ll just flunk out- not end up in the E.R. I have friends that work at the neighboring hospitals . When NSO week rolls around or, Fling weekend comes , they gear up for what they call ” Stupid Penn Tricks ” which could be anything from alcohol poisoning to falling down and breaking teeth . In a perfect world college kids would all know their limits , but obviously this isnt the case …. still it’s not the University’s place to set those limits .

By: matt

matt — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:07:17 +0000

- -N, that is ridiculous. A person should be encouraged to “find their limits” by crossing them? What if instead of self-destructive behavior (overboard on the alcohol) it was destructive behaviour towards others? Should a person predisposed to violence be put into a riot situation to “find their limits”? Why is this reasoning accepted so widely? Why don’t we encourage them to find their sexual limits? “Go on, go ahead, Johnny. … OK, so, that time, you got an STD. Now, what have we learned?”
And why is there this entitlement? The public intoxication laws don’t seem to apply to these people. Personally, I’d like to be able to walk home at night without witnessing people urinating on the side of buildings (I’ve seen this twice so far just this school year).
I’d like to live on a campus where a girl didn’t have to get accompanied home at night - not because of violence from outside the University but for fear of harassment from bands of students, mostly underaged, drunk with substance and with attitude.

By: -N

-N — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:03:20 +0000

I disagree completely. Having the freedom to go a little crazy helps students who haven’t found their limits before discover what they can and cannot handle. The police should be there to help those who push themselves past their own limit, not to punish them. It would be a waste of time and money to enforce an underage drinking policy any more than Penn already does, because 90% of those caught or disciplined will be out there the next weekend, making the same choices. It’s a personal decision, not one worth regulating.