While the details of last Friday’s tragic death of George Desdunes ’13 are still unclear, MetaEzra has published a thought-provoking post on the big picture issues of this incident. All of his speculations are likely to be big points of discussion in the coming weeks and months:
— Imagine that instead of Desdunes’s untimely death, he only was hospitalized. Would the fraternity still have been suspended for violation of University alcohol policy?
— Imagine that nothing afoul would have come out of SAE this past weekend. Would it still have been suspended for (pretty much assumed) violation of the University’s alcohol policy?
— Imagine that instead of letting the Greek system persist through the 50s and 60s, Cornell would have decommissioned the entire system like many other colleges did during that time (e.g.Williams) and instead developed small, co-educational living-leaning houses and co-ops. Would Desdunes still have died?
— Or alternatively, imagine that Cornell had developed a residential college experience for all underclassmen (freshman and sophomores) as part of Rawlings’s residential initiative, banning Greek system involvement until later on in a student’s academic career (much like Dartmouth). Would Desdunes still have died?
I’m not trying to point fingers, but it’s something to think about. Institutions matter. Culture matters. The environment we create for ourselves matters. And clearly we are all in some way responsible.
“What ifs” can be said over and over again, but the past cannot be changed. What happened is a tragedy and there is nothing that can be done to change it. All we can do is move forward and try to prevent something like this happening again. Sure, the first thing people want to do is demolish the greek system, but what does that do, nothing. College students will still continue to drink, do drugs, and go about their business of trying to escape the stressful weeks by getting completely stoned or black-out on the weekends. Maybe what needs to change is Cornell’s out look on its academics and overall environment. Why is it that three people jumped off the bridge last year? Or that students are hospitalized every weekend for substance abuse? Surely you can’t blame the greek system for every single problem. Maybe it is because every single student at this school is so unbelievably stressed out they need to escape; some unfortunately end their lives, while others drink to the point where their worries don’t exist. We can point fingers all we want, but in the end it will not bring George back, so for once and all can we end this conversation. Let his friends and family mourn and for one moment stop thinking, talking and typing about what “may” have happened and just let it be. It happened, he’s gone, it is already out of our hands, for the moment there is nothing more to do.
I’m sorry but this cannot be a conversation that ends. How many people like George must die because of fraternities, the negligence of the institution, and alcohol misuse. As a response to anon1 if someone from your family died at Cornell would you really be saying it is out of our hands and we must move on? Once you are in the situation it is very different and I guarantee you would think differently. George will get the respect that he deserves at his wake and funeral which I will be attending. However fingers MUST be pointed. Think about the mother. All she lived for was her one son and now he is gone. Something must be done. I hope the police are doing everything they can to crack down on the situation. Who was really involved? Who was with him the night before he died? I knew George personally and know he had no medical condition. The brothers of the SAE fraternity should know something that the general public does not know as of yet. Hopefully things will be brought out into the light. One thing is for a sure though. If George did not go to Cornell University he would still be alive today….
Anon 1 brings up some important points. There are alcohol, drug and stress related problems on the Cornell campus. Students have jumped off bridges. Students are being carted off to hospitals every year for drug overdoses and alcohol poisoning. *Four students died last year suddenly with no cause of death given. They weren’t sick or in accidents. Were these deaths also suicides or alcohol/drug related? There was another **Cornell student in Aug, 2010 that tragically fell to his death in the gorge and alcohol was thought to be involved. Cornell students are dying!
Yes, I agree that the students are under a tremendous amount of stress and unfortunately some use drugs, alcohol and even suicide to escape. Yes, I agree that we need to move forward and try to prevent something like this from happening again but we don’t do that by throwing our hands up in the air and saying there is nothing more we can do now. This needs to be the beginning of some drastic, far-reaching changes on the Cornell campus.
Cornell has been making an effort to address their problems. They have increased counseling support for students and all freshmen have to take an online program about alcohol and Cornell’s severe policy toward it, yet something like this still happens. Well, talk is cheap. George’s death is a tragedy and not only should fingers be pointed – heads need to roll. The Greek system who should be a role model is one of the main culprits encouraging minors to drink. There should be stern punitive measures for those responsible parties. Cornell’s alcohol policy needs to be strictly enforced across campus, especially in the fraternities. These activities are going on and the police ignore it. The university needs to do more to prevent it.
We have had no suicides this year but have two deaths with alcohol involved. Is this a different manifestation of the same problem? Why are all of these students males? Does there need to be special program zeroing in on males? Questions need to be answered. An in-depth evaluation needs to be done on the Cornell campus and comprehensive, aggressive solutions should be put in place to address the stress, alcohol and drug issues on campus. Cornell needs to be proactive. How many students have to die before meaningful action is taken! Cornell is a wonderful university but firm action needs to be taken that will avert any further disastrous loss of life. Let this be the last senseless, heartbreaking death at Cornell.
*Boom Lim, Rion Wight, Lucas Wooster, Oliver Schaifelberger **Khalil King
A mother has lost a child and all that she’d hope for in his very bright future is gone. Over a senseless and avoidable tragedy. George was alive at points during the evening and am hours. How many people walked by him and didn’t stop to wonder if this kid may need medical assistance. How many times have we all walked passed someone throwing up somewhere and never stopped to ask if that person was ok, how many Georges have you encountered? No we don’t just move on. There are consequences for not protecting people. We are our brothers keeper whether we like it or not. Cornell and Frat houses need to take serious responsibility for not educating students on the symptoms of Alcohol poisoning. Especially given the statistics of students binging and being hospitalized because of alcohol consumption. George was 19 years old, under the legal age limit for drinking,legal being the key word here. Given the fact that most of the students at Cornell are underage and given the statistics of death and hospitalization due to alcohol consumption in all Universities Nationwide wide, Cornell should have a enforced some sort of curriculum around the dangers of drugs and alcohol or been big brother to young men and women like George. A mother does not pour her life into her only child then send him away to college for him to come home in a body bag. Sorry Cornell and SAE someone has to pay for this young mans life, no I take that back I’m not sorry. The only person I’m sorry for is George and his family. Cornell and SAE you take responsibility for negligence and wrongful death so all the mothers and fathers who send their children away to college never have to endure the pain and ache in her hearts.. over losing the light in their life.
Hello … as the sister of Lucas Wooster, one of Cornell’s “suicide victims” of 2009, my brother had long battled with depression. Although “no cause of death was given”, it was indeed a suicide. He was 32 and a Ph.D. student, well old enough to know how to handle the stresses of academia. It pains me how these debates turn on the schools or other outside forces, when the reality is so many people that have mental health issues feel they need to stay in the closet and/or hide in shame. Depression, anxiety and other emotional issues are nothing to be ashamed of or to hide. If there are any lessons from the conversation I hope that they are to reach out, be vocal, ask your friends how they are doing … AND MEAN IT.