NU student found in dorm room

**cassiesmom** · 06-17-2008, 04:43 PM

Why, WHY would they let them drink in the dorms, even if they're of age?

Northwestern student died of alcohol overdose after attending party, officials say
Matthew Sunshine, 19, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was found in his Foster House dorm room Tuesday
By Lisa Black and Jeremy Gorner | Tribune reporters
A Northwestern University freshman who died Tuesday of an accidental alcohol overdose had attended a drinking party at his dormitory the previous night, according to police.

Matthew Sunshine, 19, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m., said a Cook County medical examiner's office spokesman.

Sunshine, who was enrolled in the School of Education and Social Policy, was found Tuesday in his room at Foster House dormitory, 2253 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, university officials said.

Evanston police are investigating. They said Wednesday that students said they helped Sunshine back to his room, then checked on him several times throughout the night and that he appeared to be "sleeping fine," according to a news release.

At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, a student checked on him again and found him to be unresponsive, police said.

Students who are 21 or older are allowed to drink alcohol in residence halls, according to university spokesman Al Cubbage. The university will decide whether disciplinary actions need to be taken against underage drinkers at Tuesday's party based on what the police investigation reveals, he said.

"The university will investigate the incident," Cubbage said. "We have established procedures that we use, and we will follow those procedures."

**Twisterdog** · 06-17-2008, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by cassiesmom

Why, WHY would they let them drink in the dorms, even if they're of age?

I agree. I attended a "dry" university ... no alcohol was allowed anywhere on campus, didn't matter if you were 21 or 51. I thought it was a good idea then, and I think it's a GREAT idea now.

**Cataholic** · 06-18-2008, 09:28 AM

If, as a society, we took more time to educate/socialize our children to alcohol, its effects, responsible drinking, etc., we could go a long way towards curbing these unfortunate tragedies. I am not talking about 10 year olds, and I am not talking about wild weekend parties in which the purpose of the drink is to get drunk. I am talking about reasonable, and appropriate, use of alcohol. And, yes, I do think alcohol is both reasonable and appropriate. Necessary? Of course not, but, the list of items on the necessary list would be pretty short, wouldn't it?

"Just Say No", raising the drinking age, forbidding alcohol, etc., has proven not to be effective.

Yeah, I do recognize that my opinion is not the majority opinion. Having been raised in a household where drinking was neither abused nor forbidden, I have a healthy respect for alcohol.

**sasvermont** · 06-18-2008, 09:40 AM

I agree with Cataholic. We need to educate our children much better than we do. Teach them to enjoy some things in life without letting it kill them. It is true about many of the so called "pleasures in life".......

I think the person doing the drinking should be 100% accountable for their behavior - and yet I still feel very sorry for the outcome in this case - it is tragic for sure.

Educate, educate, educate.

**K9soul** · 06-18-2008, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Cataholic

If, as a society, we took more time to educate/socialize our children to alcohol, its effects, responsible drinking, etc., we could go a long way towards curbing these unfortunate tragedies.

"Just Say No", raising the drinking age, forbidding alcohol, etc., has proven not to be effective.

I really agree with this. My college campus was also a dry campus but of course that never stopped the kids/young adults from sneaking alcohol into their dorms. What impacted me the most about caution when drinking was a video my Psych professor showed us during a chapter on drugs and alcohol. It talked about exactly how alcohol can build to a toxic level in your body, it showed some true stories of kids that had died from it, and most scary to me, just how close you are to toxicity and death when you drink to the point of being ill. When you are ill from drinking your body is trying to rid you of a toxic amount of alcohol. If for some reason the body isn't able to make that happen, you can easily die.

That video stayed with me and had far more effect than threats and proscriptions did.

**Lady's Human** · 06-18-2008, 04:59 PM

Threats, bans, etc. just enhance the allure of alcohol. Telling a teenager that they cannot do something is a challenge to them in many cases. When the army treated alcohol as something soldiers were going to do, rather than treating it as an ultimate evil which should be banned, we had fewer problems.

**lizbud** · 06-18-2008, 05:12 PM

I'm very surprised that any University would allow alcohol on school grounds.

**Jessika** · 06-18-2008, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Cataholic

If, as a society, we took more time to educate/socialize our children to alcohol, its effects, responsible drinking, etc., we could go a long way towards curbing these unfortunate tragedies. I am not talking about 10 year olds, and I am not talking about wild weekend parties in which the purpose of the drink is to get drunk. I am talking about reasonable, and appropriate, use of alcohol. And, yes, I do think alcohol is both reasonable and appropriate. Necessary? Of course not, but, the list of items on the necessary list would be pretty short, wouldn't it?

"Just Say No", raising the drinking age, forbidding alcohol, etc., has proven not to be effective.

Yeah, I do recognize that my opinion is not the majority opinion. Having been raised in a household where drinking was neither abused nor forbidden, I have a healthy respect for alcohol.

I actually agree with you 100%.

Why is it the school's responsibility to teach kids about being responsible with alcohol? If they ban it, they will just sneak it in. I've visited friends in university who stayed in dorms where alcohol wasn't allowed, but do you think they listened? Nope.

I don't think the school should be to blame, I don't think the school should have to "ban" alcohol, either. I think these kids need to mature and learn how to be responsible. Because banned or not, the alcohol will still be there.

**kitten645** · 06-18-2008, 09:11 PM

I completely agree. It's part of personal responsibilty at any age. American society in general tends to be puritanical. Responsible drinking should be tought from parents/adults. My parents are Argentinian and drank wine with dinner most nights. I never saw them drunk. I was never told not to drink. I enjoy wine. I don't like beer so I would never drink it. It isn't the school's responsiblity to ban alcohol.
A tragedy none the less.
Claudia

**Catty1** · 06-18-2008, 09:12 PM

Well...I bet a lot, if not all, the students in this case got a true and real education. It's not fair that this tragedy had to cause it - but maybe, just maybe, one or more lives may be saved.

**RICHARD** · 06-19-2008, 08:52 AM

Stuff and mount the body, then make the kids party with it in the room. It may turn off a few kids to the fact that drinking like a fish may hurt you.
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I can tell you that the parents are thinking/or have been inundated with calls about some kind of lawsuit against the world at large.

If that was my kid, I'd kill them all over again, for being stupid.

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Then you have to look on the bright side. At least the 'friends' you made in school didn't leave you one the street to die, like some kind of frigging drunk.

But, I guess the old adage, LIVE AND LEARN, don't apply here.