There, I said it. He was responsible for his own death. Two recent reader comments in the Mustang Daily pointed the blame exclusively towards the greeks and “binge drinking.” However, these claims are ridiculous. Firstly, how can we blame “binge drinking” as the first comment does? “Bad binge drinking, please stop killing people?” Should we chastise it and shake our fingers at it so that it stops harming people? Clearly binge drinking is someone’s fault other than its own.
The greeks do have some responsibility in the matter, but should not be held accountable. The fact of the matter is that Carson chose to be at that party and chose to drink what was offered him, fully knowing the dangers that accompany frat parties. Apparently, those hazing him made a mistake and should feel guilty about it, but are not ultimately responsible. Carson had the freewill to not drink what was offered him, peer pressure or not. This is not comparable to rape victims since these victims are forced into the act, unlike the case of Carson. He should have looked out for his own safety by perhaps refusing to drink more or avoiding the party altogether. Everyone should take responsibility for their direct actions even if someone else involved made a poor decision as well. In this case, multiple parties made poor decisions, but the victim is ultimately responsible for his death.
Aaron Baldwin
electrical engineering sophomore
Wow, Aaron. Thanks for your irrelevant opinion. I’m sure that NOBODY in the world would have thought that Starkey drank at his own free will. I really thought he was tied down, and forced to guzzle alcohol from a funnel.
The reality is that fraternities are just a waste. They are full of people who have a problem making friends on their own, and don’t fit in anywhere else. They are usually full of kids whos parents pay for the fraternity, and then use that money to host parties with outrageous amounts of alcohol.
Do I drink? Yes. Do I get hammered sometimes? Yes!
Do I have a semi-retarded group of men, cheering for me to drink more for no reason around me? No.
End of story.
This was a really unfortunate incident that has done nothing but tarnished the reputation of Cal Poly and Greek System. As a former fraternity member and CP alumni…I have some opinions of my own on this topic. I believe that Carson and the members of SAE were both equally responsible in this incident. As far fratenity members being a waste I would disagree. My closest friends from my fraternity are all very succesful within their own careers. Most of them have moved up in the corporate world and are currently VP’s or Regional Managers of Fortune 500 companies.
Roy, it all depends on how you view “success” and how it was achieved. Because some of them work as VP/Regional Managers for Fortune 500 companies, does not directly mean that they are successful, unless you are being myopic and thinking of only the economical factor. Are you taking into consideration their health? Liver? Social life? Family condition? Love condition? Community condition? Diet? Physical activity?
Hey dummy (Aaron Baldwin), you say that, “The greeks do have some responsibility in the matter, but should not be held accountable.” Don’t you BLATANTLY see that your argument is completely one sided. You say that because Carson chose to drink, he is responsible for his premature death, not those who gave him the alcohol. You claim that he was fully aware of the consequences of his actions. Well how about we treat the members of SAE the same way. Were they not fully aware that the consequences of providing alcohol to a minor carries up to a one year jail sentence? Or that causing bodily injury or death through hazing carries a harsher sentence. Carson and the members of SAE were participating in a bout of flying trapeze that proved deadly. It’s only fair to Carson, he had to pay; so, so do they, according to due process of the law.
I disagree with Aaron that “the frat students should not be held accountable.” Like these other comments, I would place some of the blame on them for creating the situation, but ultimately there was an element of free will, and Carson does share some of the responsibility (which I take to be the main point). Clearly no one was thinking straight that night.
Greek life is pointless anyways. without it there would be less incidence of girls getting raped and incidents like this. i don’t think greek life is the only source of these people’s friends but it seems like a waste of money and an excuse to get drunk. Greek students may be a joke and poor at socializing like humans but they have feelings to hahahaha. as for the alumni’s comment, thats cool that those guys are successful in fortune 500, but that has nothing to do with their character. I’m sure they are great in cut throat business lol. All we can do is pray for this guy’s family and all the families hurt by this. that would suck to have to deal with if you were the “hazers” too. Peace Love and jesus!
Greek life is by no means pointless. Yes, there are some irrelevant activities that occur, but Greeks do a lot of volunteer work and hold a lot of events for charities. Yes there are some bad aspects, such as the dangerous hazing and rape. The Greek community is a great way to make strong bonds with people, make great social networking connections and to help you when you are having trouble in school and in life. Though, I disagree with letter, the amount of pressure from hazing in a fraternity is basically taking away his free will.
Aaron Baldwin, your argument is so flawed and full of contradictions. Were you yourself drunk when you wrote this? Let me quote: “The fact of the matter is that Carson chose to be at that party and chose to drink what was offered him, fully knowing the dangers that accompany frat parties. Apparently, those hazing him made a mistake and should feel guilty about it, but are not ultimately responsible.”
The dangers that accompany frat parties? It sounds like you are admitting that the greek environment is one that has an above average risk factor involved in it. This is the complaint those outside of the greek community make. Despite whatever philanthropic endeavors greek organizations take it, the point remains that an elevated level of self risk goes right along with many of the other ‘events’ such organizations host and take part in. Should a girl raped at a frat party be forced to take responsibility too, because she was aware of the higher incident of rape within the greek system before she attended? Sure, Carson put the bottle to his own lips, but do you think he would, under his own free will, have drank himself to death in any other situation than an event like he was attending?
You preface your statement “those hazing him made a mistake and should feel guilty about it” with “apparently.” Apparently what? You admit hazing was a factor, but still think they should “apparently feel guilty?” Where are your morals? Do you really not even agree that those involved should not even feel guilty?
You make the comparison to rape victims, saying its a different situation because Carson wasnt “forced” to drink what he did. Many victims of statutory rape are never physically forced into any sexual acts, yet statutory rape is still a crime because it involves the abuse of one’s power and influence over another individual. This seems to be exactly what happened with Carson. Older members of the fraternity used their position of power and influence to encourage self destructive behavior, leading to death. Such acts must be punished. What kind of bonds are greek members out to form when they cant even look after their own kind? A bad hang over is one thing. Drinking so much that you die is on a whole different level. The death of Carson cannot be attributed solely to his own actions, and to think so is hugely ignorant that I can barely wrap my head around it. Thanks for allowing us all an opportunity to peer into your warped sense of right and wrong, though. Thanks to you, the greek system makes a little more sense to me now.
Although Carson clearly did have free will in the matter of how much he drank on the tragic night of his death, how can you put the blame purely on him when he had supposed “brothers” all around him who should have been there to help rather than essentially kill him.
Of course no one from the fraternity intentionally caused this to happen, but the truth of the matter is that someone died on their watch. Rather than arguing about this specific case, why aren’t we looking at the bigger picture and asking why this occurs at all? Why is it that in order to feel as if you belong you have to literally kill yourself?
This is not just a comment on greek life, but social life in general. I feel for everyone involved in this tragic situation, including the men from the fraternity that are being held accountable. It is a shame that one night of unclear thinking had such a big impact on the lives of so many people.
Interesting take Aaron, I definitely sympathize with your point of view. This was a tragic situation but I actually was hanging out with Carson earlier that evening and I know he was drinking beer well before that party which has led me to agree-underage in san luis there are ample opportunities to drink and ultimately we are responsible for our own safety.