Do you remember what happened to Timothy Piazza?
Perhaps you can recall exactly why we should know his name, or perhaps the name sounds familiar to you, but you no longer remember its significance. Whatever the case, let me explain to you who I’m talking about: Timothy Piazza passed away on February 4 of this year following a hazing incident which occurred on February 2 at a party held by Penn State’s Beta Theta Pi fraternity chapter, which has now been banned from the university.
Now does the name now ring a bell? I hope it does. Piazza’s story is just one of countless tragedies that have occurred on a college campus involving drinking. In fact, about 1,825 college students die as a result of alcohol-related injuries each year. Philip Dhanens died after a similar hazing incident at a different university. He was just eighteen years old and had only been on campus for two weeks.
Similar to Piazza’s tragedy, Timothy Jarvis fell to his death down a flight of stairs after downing a bottle of rum in just fifteen minutes. Megan Helal died at age nineteen after binge drinking at a fraternity party while visiting her boyfriend at his university.
Sadly, these are just some of the many similar tragedies that have happened in recent years.
Now, this isn’t meant to be an article to blame anyone or to retell the horrific and shocking incident. This is an article, however, to attempt to answer the question that comes to so many people’s minds when they hear these kinds of tragedies: What do we do?
The sad truth is that there isn’t much to do regarding this particular incident and past incidents. The damage has been done, the mistakes have been made, people have lost their lives, and their families are left to mourn their passing. What can be done, however, are more vigorous and constructive attempts to stop so many of these instances from happening in the future.
Of course, we can’t prevent all tragedies from occurring, but we can educate people on the responsibility that comes with drinking. Timothy Piazza didn’t die because he was drinking that night. He lost his life because of the cowardliness of his friends and their failure to put his safety and life above their own. Jim Piazza calls his son’s death, “murder” and “torture.”
We can educate college campuses and talk to incoming college freshmen warning them not to drink and trying to scare them into obedience by shocking stories like these and startling statistics. However, many probably will still drink.
What would be a better tactic, in my opinion, is to teach people how to care. We should be teaching college students that bad things, very bad things, can truly happen to people when drinking is involved. And yes, they could even happen to you and your friends, maybe not this time, but what if you’re the next news headline?
When something happens to a friend or someone you see at a party, check to see if they’re okay—really okay. Don’t be scared to speak up or to call for help, I can promise that repercussions you will face from your peers and even the authorities in that instance will be so much less severe than the feelings of guilt and punishment you could face later for not speaking up. As Jim Piazza puts it, "If anybody tries to make you do something that's illegal, don't do it. Walk away, you don't want to be brothers with those guys."
As a result of this tragedy, we mourn Timothy Piazza’s death and send our condolensces to the family, as we do for the other young people who have fallen victim to similar tragedies. We can hope for the future, and preach care and love for one another over scare tactics when it comes to drinking on college campuses.
Parents, you can be thankful that this time, it wasn’t your child, and college students, be thankful that it wasn’t you or your friends, or someone at the party you just attended this past weekend.
But if this risky, thrill-seeking, and logic-ignoring drinking culture doesn’t change, be aware that next time, it just might be.
