INC NEWS - Letter: Moneta's comments about 'next death' inappropriate (Chronicle, Feb 2003)

[John Schelp]

Letter: Moneta's comments about 'next death'
inappropriate
(Duke Chronicle, 4 February 2003)

Try to imagine my dismay when I read the comment by
Larry Moneta in the Jan. 17 edition of The Chronicle.
To quote, "the only thing that will drastically change
the debate on alcohol at the University will be 'the
next death' he said." Wasn't my son's death enough?

Raheem was a junior majoring in engineering and
economics when he contracted aspiration pneumonia
three days after a night of heavy drinking in November
1999. As his bereaved mother I am one of the countless
victims of an alcohol-caused tragedy. I am also the
program director of a national nonprofit organization
concerned with student safety. There is so much more
that can, should and eventually will be done to combat
the dangerous level of alcohol consumption currently
the "norm" among the majority of students at Duke and
on college campuses nationwide.

The latest Harvard University study of college
drinking has shown environment to be the strongest
contributing factor for excessive drinking. Building a
"village" is good - but changing the culture of
excessive drinking on campus is going to take more
effort and innovation. As long as everyone thinks of
alcohol as a harmless beverage instead of a drug,
abusive drinking will continue. 

This country's premiere online alcohol education
course AlcoholEdu.com was designed by your own Duke
faculty and alumni! Why isn't AlcoholEdu required of
all incoming freshmen before they arrive on campus?
Why are Duke students being denied an education about
the most deadly drug in America, a drug that kills six
times more people than all illegal drugs combined? 

May God help the parent of "the next death" who has to
suffer as I have. 

Catherine Bath 
Pennsylvania