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I'm in complete and utter shock right now. Everyone that I've been hanging out with, connecting with every day this summer- they're gone. Just like that. This is probably going to turn into a rambling post, but whatever because I need to write out my thoughts.
But actually
The story: + Show Spoiler + So right now, I'm taking classes at Harvard's summer program for high school students. Basically it's a trial run for college, except that the amount of courses you can take are capped at 8 credits. These credits actually go on our college transcripts. There are no rules, curfews or otherwise, except for their zero tolerance policy for alcohol.
You can probably see where this is going.
Last Wednesday night, I was on a date because my girlfriend was going out of town for the weekend so I couldn't see her then. After we went book shopping, bacon-ordering, and making out for a few hours, I took her back to her place and later returned to my dorm to sleep, tired and happy.
The next evening, I had dinner with my friend Brian and we recounted our nights. He told me that while I was with my girl, he and the other seven of my friends had gone out drinking, but no worries. Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. Someone had called Reed, who is one of those guys who never does anything morally reprehensible but is awesome to hang out with, to take care of her; so he did.
Friday afternoon, I go out and have lunch with my uncle who was in town for a few days. Halfway through, I get a call- it's Brian-
“Yo, what's up?” “Hey man, you got my text?” “Uh, no, I haven't checked; I've been out with my uncle. What is it?” “Well Frank, I hate to break it to you, but we're all expelled.” “Uh. What?” “Yeah, I just thought you should know. All of us, for the drinking thing. We'll meet up later.”
So when I returned to campus, I immediately met up with my friends. God, they were a sorry and dejected lot, except for Brian, the perpetual jester who was vainly trying to make light of the situation. No one knew what to say. I picked up a Harry Potter ticket that my friend had bought for all of us- one of eight that they would never be able to use because they had a 9 PM curfew that night. Everyone had to leave by today.
A few of the girls and I went to visit Shak who was also expelled; he had slept all day in his room. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to see the state he was in- beating himself up, tears in his eyes, he had a half-hearted way of moving about his room. He pushed us out so he could return to his dream world- an escape from reality.
Right afterwords, I went to the administrative officials to see if I could reverse the decision about Reed specifically. Even though he did not drink, by being conscious of it happening via helping that girl, and not reporting it, he was apparently liable.
Of course this wasn't fair at all. Reed is one of the best guys I know- smart as hell, a better runner than myself, wholly dedicated to both his body and mind, ambitious, hilarious, has the ability to grow kickass facial hair, etc etc. I spoke with dean after dean until I was sitting across from the director of the entire program. He told me that they reviewed each student as a separate case, taking their motives and character into consideration, but by not reporting the incident, Reed was equally as liable as everyone else who was drinking. The director admitted to liking Reed and thinking he was a “great guy”, but the rules were the rules, and the zero tolerance policy meant zero tolerance. In addition, they could not reverse the decision after it had been made.
Frustrated but knowing my efforts were futile, I thanked him for his time. He suggested that I write a letter to Reed's parents; he then provided me with his address. I think I will write a letter stating how I admire their son's character.
Twenty minutes later, we all decided to go to dinner, chatting about everything that we never did, which is an incredibly depressing conversation topic. When everyone had gotten their food, we did one last toast- to summer, prosperity, resilience, and friends.
And then we started reminiscing about all the stuff we *did* do. Inside jokes and laughter everywhere, just like the good times before all this shit went down.
After dinner, Shak and I went to a used book store. He needed some good fiction because he didn't want to live his own life for the next couple weeks. I recommended Catch-22 and Cat's Cradle and mentioned that I had a copy of The Great Gatsby; I hid some lines of poetry in The Great Gatsby and gifted it to him, as we both appreciate good poetry.
After they all had to go to their dorms because of their curfew, I went to see Harry Potter all by my lonesome self. I tried to bury myself in popcorn, junior mints, a large coke, and a movie, but to no avail. I went wandering around Cambridge after the film, eavesdropping on strangers' conversations and stargazing.
Goodbyes were awful. Most of them left early this morning. I saw Brian off first thing after I woke up; I was so proud of him for finally admitting his feelings to the girl he had a crush on even though he got completely friend zoned.
I got breakfast with Reed this morning. He's disappointed in himself, and I tried to console him. As we were eating, I told him to recommend me some good electronic music with which I can remember him (he makes amazing electronic beats in his free time). When his father met up with him and I had to say goodbye, my last words to him were
“You're inspiring.” “You too. You too.”
And so now here I am, remembering all the stuff I'll never be able to do. I was going to LAN some BW and WC3 against Sam, but now he's gone. I was going to go to a poetry slam with Shak, but now he's gone. I was going to make some music with Reed, but now he's gone. And so on, and so on.
Sam left a day early. Strange, the last time I saw him was when he knocked at my door when I was with my girl. This was the last conversation we had:
*I open the door* “Seriously, dude? I'm a little busy.” “Oh, sorry Frank. Do you know if the piano rooms are open?” “Hell if I know.” “All right. See ya.”
If I hadn't have gone out with my girl Wednesday (as a result of her going out of town for the weekend), I would have been with my friends that fateful night and been expelled along with them.
Weird how the smallest decisions have large consequences. Reed went to go help a girl who had too much and was expelled for it. I went on a date and was spared by it.
Thank God for girlfriends.
TL;DR: all my friends were expelled and I need to make a whole new group of friends now.
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United States24345 Posts
I don't see how you can be obligated to report that people you knew were underaged-drinking... that's crap. Did he sign some agreement saying he would report all rule infractions to the program leaders?
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On July 17 2011 02:17 micronesia wrote: I don't see how you can be obligated to report that people you knew were underaged-drinking... that's crap. Did he sign some agreement saying he would report all rule infractions to the program leaders?
No. When confronted, the only ways to remain innocent are either to report it or to claim ignorance. The deans did tell me that Reed should have gone through the "proper" method to help that girl- by calling Harvard's police department, which amounts to reporting the incident. It's a completely unrealistic policy and my friend got screwed over by it. Augh.
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God this country and its alcohol rules. So uptight compared to pretty much the rest of the world :[ Very shitty situation man :\
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That's pretty ridiculous. Sorry to hear that man. Good luck to Reed and the rest of you.
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=(( a friend of mine left recently too.
But expelling him was a very stupid decision to make. They could've punished him in whatever other way but expelling him?
If a witness doesn't cooperate to rat out his friend who murdered someone he won't get the death penalty either right?
Ridiculous
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sorry to hear that, those are some pretty ridiculous rules though
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On July 17 2011 02:17 micronesia wrote: I don't see how you can be obligated to report that people you knew were underaged-drinking... that's crap. Did he sign some agreement saying he would report all rule infractions to the program leaders?
It is not unheard of, though a little weird in this situation. As part of a job I worked in high school I was a mandatory reporter meaning if I saw anything illegal from someone underage I was suppose to report it.
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Ah shit, that sucks. How did the University find out, they didn't drink on Campus did they??
Also, how they hell can they not expect you to drink-- this is post-secondary!!
Double also, were you and your friends going to Harvard in the Fall, or is this like between Grades 11 and 12 type dealio?
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United States24345 Posts
On July 17 2011 03:30 SCPlato wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2011 02:17 micronesia wrote: I don't see how you can be obligated to report that people you knew were underaged-drinking... that's crap. Did he sign some agreement saying he would report all rule infractions to the program leaders? It is not unheard of, though a little weird in this situation. As part of a job I worked in high school I was a mandatory reporter meaning if I saw anything illegal from someone underage I was suppose to report it. If it's pre-negotiated, then ok.
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dude it was just a summer session and you have known these guys for what? 2 months max?
All my friends were expelled? overdramatic much?
you guys are like 15-16 yr olds drinking (when the drinking age is 21) at a university during a summer session and got caught and expelled?
sounds like you got what you deserved
maybe except for that Reed guy
for those who may not be familiar with the system, this is one of those 3 month summer session at prestigious universities for privileged kids unless i am mistaken, you are going back to highschool in 1-2 months (which has nothing to do with your getting expelled here), back to your "old" friends.
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Something like this happened my first year of college. My roommate and I had gone out for the night to grab some food and then hit up a movie while all of my other friends had gone out to a party and ended up getting drunk and/or high. To make a long story short a bunch of stuff went down and they all ended up getting "asked to leave" as the University likes to put it. So basically by me and my roommate randomly deciding we were hungry and needed food we avoided getting expelled along with all of our friends. I was really bummed for a few months when it happened, my roommate and I basically spoke to no one for the last month of the semester. It's been a few years now (going into my senior year) and I've made a ton of new friends within the Comp Sci department. Definitely sucked though
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On July 17 2011 03:34 emperorchampion wrote: Ah shit, that sucks. How did the University find out, they didn't drink on Campus did they??
Also, how they hell can they not expect you to drink-- this is post-secondary!!
Double also, were you and your friends going to Harvard in the Fall, or is this like between Grades 11 and 12 type dealio?
We're not sure how the officials heard about it, but some of the girls believe someone snitched on them. Whenever my friends would go off to smoke or something, they would always go by the Charles river. And this is a between grades 11 and 12 thing for summer school, although Reed told me he has high hopes of applying here for undergrad. Personally, I entertain no such notions.
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You make this sound like your friends just got expelled from Hogwarts. Sorry, but it just does lol. But hey don't worry buddy you'll meet many many new people once you get into college.
Sucks how they were expelled because alcohol, but rules are rules. There are many other laws in our country that are far more ridiculous with even harsher consequences. Sadly there's not much you can do about them except to live your life the best you can.
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On July 17 2011 03:57 phosphorylation wrote:+ Show Spoiler +dude it was just a summer session and you have known these guys for what? 2 months max?
All my friends were expelled? overdramatic much?
you guys are like 15-16 yr olds drinking (when the drinking age is 21) at a university during a summer session and got caught and expelled?
sounds like you got what you deserved
maybe except for that Reed guy
for those who may not be familiar with the system, this is one of those 3 month summer session at prestigious universities for privileged kids unless i am mistaken, you are going back to highschool in 1-2 months (which has nothing to do with your getting expelled here), back to your "old" friends.
Dude. Loss is loss. I connected with these people in more ways than I've connected with people back home. Sure I'll go back home in another month, but that doesn't mean I won't miss these people. You can write this off as "just some foolish kids getting what they deserve," but I feel disheartened at them being torn from me in just one and a half days.
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loss is a loss indeed. but read your own post again and see how much of an emo-teenager you sound like.
if all your friends that you have known for many years and attended your high school all got expelled from your high school, then, perhaps a post like this would be justified.
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"last conversation" "last thing I said to him" "but now he's gone."
I see your point; maybe I shouldn't have written this right after I said goodbye- probably not the best mindset for writing. I guess it's time to go make some new friends here.
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On July 17 2011 04:16 phosphorylation wrote: loss is a loss indeed. but read your own post again and see how much of an emo-teenager you sound like.
if all your friends that you have known for many years and attended your high school all got expelled from your high school, then, perhaps a post like this would be justified. Naw dude, that's a pretty dumb thing of you to say. Maybe you just can't imagine yourself in the same situation.
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So, in a state with the 2nd strictest alcohol laws in the country, how did a group of kids 4 years under the legal drinking age get access to alcohol?
And "Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. " - so the right thing to do is to call another kid to take care of her? As good of a guy as he may be, is he going to know what the difference between "had a little too much" and "had a lot too much" looks like?
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On July 17 2011 04:16 phosphorylation wrote: loss is a loss indeed. but read your own post again and see how much of an emo-teenager you sound like.
if all your friends that you have known for many years and attended your high school all got expelled from your high school, then, perhaps a post like this would be justified.
Why be such a dick? What's wrong with expressing your emotions?
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On July 17 2011 04:51 Tipany wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2011 04:16 phosphorylation wrote: loss is a loss indeed. but read your own post again and see how much of an emo-teenager you sound like.
if all your friends that you have known for many years and attended your high school all got expelled from your high school, then, perhaps a post like this would be justified. Naw dude, that's a pretty dumb thing of you to say. Maybe you just can't imagine yourself in the same situation.
I can imagine myself in the same situation. In the moment I'll probably be over dramatic, in years to come it'll be more like a *shrug*.
It sucks we can all agree with that. But in reality its not a big deal, not a small deal either, but it's not like you're living in a third world country struggling to support your family and BAM you break your leg and become unable to work.
I believe the OP understands where we're coming from when we comment on how the blog was written in an overly dramatic manner. It's not like we're telling him to shut up. A loss is a loss.
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On July 17 2011 05:07 Grantiere wrote: So, in a state with the 2nd strictest alcohol laws in the country, how did a group of kids 4 years under the legal drinking age get access to alcohol?
And "Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. " - so the right thing to do is to call another kid to take care of her? As good of a guy as he may be, is he going to know what the difference between "had a little too much" and "had a lot too much" looks like?
You've never drank have you? It isn't hard for kids to get alcohol....
Sounds like a lot of bullshit sorry for your friends they must be really kicking themselves sounds like a good opportunity lost
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On July 17 2011 04:16 phosphorylation wrote: loss is a loss indeed. but read your own post again and see how much of an emo-teenager you sound like.
if all your friends that you have known for many years and attended your high school all got expelled from your high school, then, perhaps a post like this would be justified.
Personally, I believe you can make better friends with some people in a shorter span of 1-2 months than with certain people in a span of 1-2 years, or even longer. One or two months is more than enough time to mix and bond with another and learn enough to decide how compatible that person is with you. In the scenario of kids mature enough to partake in a privileged program at a prestigious university, I'd say you may find that even amongst high schoolers, you may find that you can truly connect with them as opposed to an otherwise normal situation.
Also, to the OP, I don't think your post came off emo at all; it's perfectly normal to feel bummed out after losing some great friends that you seemed to have made.
EDIT: You could do without the picture though, that makes the whole post look exaggerated...
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Wow, that sucks quite a bit. I took some summer classes with some friends junior year at a local uni too. They weren't credit summer courses but they were quite a bit of fun.
I can only assume you all wanted to get into Harvard. It doesn't look like your friends will anymore.
No one ever has a good chance of getting in, but now they don't have any chance. Try to console them by telling them that they don't need Harvard... because they really don't. Harvard needs them. You guys are all so hardworking. In the grand scheme of things, this event will be like a speed bump (social network reference :/).
I don't really think finding more people to hang out with is on any order of difficulty to bear as the shame of being expelled.
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On July 17 2011 05:50 obesechicken13 wrote: Wow, that sucks quite a bit. I took some summer classes with some friends junior year at a local uni too. They weren't credit summer courses but they were quite a bit of fun.
I can only assume you all wanted to get into Harvard. It doesn't look like your friends will anymore.
No one ever has a good chance of getting in, but now they don't have any chance. Try to console them by telling them that they don't need Harvard... because they really don't. Harvard needs them. You guys are all so hardworking. In the grand scheme of things, this event will be like a speed bump (social network reference :/).
I don't really think finding more people to hang out with is on any order of difficulty to bear as the shame of being expelled.
That part about Harvard needing them is obviously false; I wouldn't use this line to console them. Any intelligent individual knows just what it takes to enter Harvard University and the simple fact is that Harvard simply has way too many elite competitors to need anyone in particular unless he or she is an EXTREMELY distinguishable elite.
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It's sad that your friends got expelled, but they knew about the zero tolerance policy, so they got what they deserved. If the administrators would ignore it or just give a warning, it would give a precedent with hard to foresee consequences.
Even if they would give the Reed Guy just a warning it would give the wrong message "yeah, if you just participate without drinking you are free to go, just ignore all illegal stuff"... nope, not going to happen.
Rules are Rules, don't break them when your future depends on it.
Sucks for you, but well, your next friends are just around the corner and hopefully they will be more intelligent. There is also still Facebook, so you can still talk to them and meet them in the holidays, etc.
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On July 17 2011 06:17 Morfildur wrote: It's sad that your friends got expelled, but they knew about the zero tolerance policy, so they got what they deserved. If the administrators would ignore it or just give a warning, it would give a precedent with hard to foresee consequences.
Even if they would give the Reed Guy just a warning it would give the wrong message "yeah, if you just participate without drinking you are free to go, just ignore all illegal stuff"... nope, not going to happen.
Rules are Rules, don't break them when your future depends on it.
Sucks for you, but well, your next friends are just around the corner and hopefully they will be more intelligent. There is also still Facebook, so you can still talk to them and meet them in the holidays, etc.
Pretty much. I feel bad for you OP but not for your friends. They broke rules... probably didn't care much about them until they were caught.
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On July 17 2011 05:21 CurLy[] wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2011 05:07 Grantiere wrote: So, in a state with the 2nd strictest alcohol laws in the country, how did a group of kids 4 years under the legal drinking age get access to alcohol?
And "Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. " - so the right thing to do is to call another kid to take care of her? As good of a guy as he may be, is he going to know what the difference between "had a little too much" and "had a lot too much" looks like?
You've never drank have you? It isn't hard for kids to get alcohol.... Sounds like a lot of bullshit sorry for your friends they must be really kicking themselves sounds like a good opportunity lost
And how do kids get alcohol? Why would I be asking such a ridiculously naive question, right?
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so why are americans not allowed to drink until they are 21?
In germany you can get low % alcohol like beer when you are 16 and you are free to buy what ever when you turned 18. And no university would ever bother with what you do outside of the university grounds no matter if you live in a dorm or not. And you guys even got a curfew ....
I can just feel sorry for you
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I've never understood the excessive consumption for alcohol, I have nothing against drinking (i've had some myself, just tastes terrible to me and yes, i'm over 21), but excessive drinking I have a problem with. I never understood why people break the law to get drunk underage. I have never had that much alcohol in my life so I guess I won't understand, do people drink it because it tastes good? or makes them feel good? Because after seeing the result the next morning dozens of times, seems like it sucks.
Is drinking really THAT amazing? lol
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On July 17 2011 07:39 Grantiere wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2011 05:21 CurLy[] wrote:On July 17 2011 05:07 Grantiere wrote: So, in a state with the 2nd strictest alcohol laws in the country, how did a group of kids 4 years under the legal drinking age get access to alcohol?
And "Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. " - so the right thing to do is to call another kid to take care of her? As good of a guy as he may be, is he going to know what the difference between "had a little too much" and "had a lot too much" looks like?
You've never drank have you? It isn't hard for kids to get alcohol.... Sounds like a lot of bullshit sorry for your friends they must be really kicking themselves sounds like a good opportunity lost And how do kids get alcohol? Why would I be asking such a ridiculously naive question, right?
One of my friends had a fake. People really don't check too hard.
I feel just awful for my friend Reed- his case is definitely the exception here. I really wish I could have argued well enough to save him, but the precedent is the precedent exactly as Morfildur said. They really couldn't have let up any ground on their policy, as clunky and impersonal as it is.
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On July 17 2011 08:12 phant wrote: I've never understood the excessive consumption for alcohol, I have nothing against drinking (i've had some myself, just tastes terrible to me and yes, i'm over 21), but excessive drinking I have a problem with. I never understood why people break the law to get drunk underage. I have never had that much alcohol in my life so I guess I won't understand, do people drink it because it tastes good? or makes them feel good? Because after seeing the result the next morning dozens of times, seems like it sucks.
Is drinking really THAT amazing? lol
I myself don't have any special love for alcohol, i just get tired and want to sleep if i drink a lot, and it's not like you get a rush from breaking the law, or you're looking forward to be able to drink, as nobody really cares in Denmark, if you drink when you're 14-15 years old, and you can buy any alcohol you want as far as i know when you're 16.
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man that's a tough break. i guess it's rea`lly important just to be careful about who you're around.
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On July 17 2011 06:17 Morfildur wrote: It's sad that your friends got expelled, but they knew about the zero tolerance policy, so they got what they deserved. If the administrators would ignore it or just give a warning, it would give a precedent with hard to foresee consequences.
Even if they would give the Reed Guy just a warning it would give the wrong message "yeah, if you just participate without drinking you are free to go, just ignore all illegal stuff"... nope, not going to happen.
Rules are Rules, don't break them when your future depends on it.
Sucks for you, but well, your next friends are just around the corner and hopefully they will be more intelligent. There is also still Facebook, so you can still talk to them and meet them in the holidays, etc.
I think it's stupid that they set up rules for your private life. It's ok to have rules like that for your behaviour on university property, but as soon as you're at home or anywhere else outside of their territory it's not their concern.
However i'm not entirely sure how old these guys are. If this whole thing is something like a boarding school where the university takes the responsibility for them because they are not 18 yet, it's a different story.
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Since they are highschoolers moving to 12th grade, they ought to be 15-16.
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On July 17 2011 08:12 phant wrote: I've never understood the excessive consumption for alcohol, I have nothing against drinking (i've had some myself, just tastes terrible to me and yes, i'm over 21), but excessive drinking I have a problem with. I never understood why people break the law to get drunk underage. I have never had that much alcohol in my life so I guess I won't understand, do people drink it because it tastes good? or makes them feel good? Because after seeing the result the next morning dozens of times, seems like it sucks.
Is drinking really THAT amazing? lol Most people drink because of ZvT
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We're actually 17, not 15-16, but not like it makes much difference in the eyes of the law >_>
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Look at it this way: none of this will have any significant impact on anyone's lives in the long run. Also, you are perfectly free to stay in touch with your friends, should you care to. I recommend doing so.
Speaking from the point of view of a 40 year old who remembers things like this happening when he was 16.
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Zero tolerance is such a bullshit excuse. I feel sorry for Reed, the guy didn't deserve that one bit.
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On July 17 2011 12:28 TOloseGT wrote: Zero tolerance is such a bullshit excuse. I feel sorry for Reed, the guy didn't deserve that one bit.
One thing to keep in mind is that there's a Federal law in the U.S., which has been in place since the early 90s, that says that universities that do not actively work to prevent underage drinking can lose all (that is, 100%) of their Federal funding, including research grants and all other assistance.
Harvard University receives many millions of dollars per year from the Federal government in the form of research grants, educational grants, and graduate student fellowships. So, they put policies in place to protect that, by making sure that their students (including summer students) know that underage drinking is not acceptable.
Different schools respond to this requirement in different ways, but there's a lot at stake for a school that doesn't set strict rules, and enforce them, particularly one as prominent as Harvard University.
Edit: I'm sure the people who made this decision wish they could have had more flexibility.
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On July 17 2011 02:12 Banteng wrote: So right now, I'm taking classes at Harvard's summer program for high school students. Basically it's a trial run for college, except that the amount of courses you can take are capped at 8 credits. These credits actually go on our college transcripts. There are no rules, curfews or otherwise, except for their zero tolerance policy for alcohol.
Well, with the reputation Harvard has it can afford to be super strict on whatever they choose when it comes to enforcing policy. I was a freshman RA for three years and had to deal with administrative crap day in and day out. Those who work in student affairs either get where they are by being a great person (and great at what they do), or a total tight-wad (while being good at what they do). Sounds like you got the latter. Once again, given the reputation of the school and that newfound freedom can be a powderkeg of bad decisions I'm not at all surprised that they'd get rid of everyone.
The case of the friend who helped the girl is a bit distressing since on the surface it doesn't seem like he did anything wrong. And honestly I feel like he did the right thing. But what he did probably doesn't fit the scope of the rules that were enforced on him. My guess is that the University has either a policy or procedure of when someone drinks too much (we had these as RA's - you only had to vomit to justify an ambulance call, but you could be fired if you made a judgement call and the wrong person heard about it (which was almost never)). Plus there might be some community living standard they didn't uphold to the "T" or SOMEthing.
Either way, it all comes down to an administrator who has decided not to bend the rules or give any exception. This people suck, and I'm sorry it affected you. Thank God for girlfriends, indeed!
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On July 17 2011 08:18 Banteng wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2011 07:39 Grantiere wrote:On July 17 2011 05:21 CurLy[] wrote:On July 17 2011 05:07 Grantiere wrote: So, in a state with the 2nd strictest alcohol laws in the country, how did a group of kids 4 years under the legal drinking age get access to alcohol?
And "Apparently, some girl became sick because she had too much, but that was about the extent of it. " - so the right thing to do is to call another kid to take care of her? As good of a guy as he may be, is he going to know what the difference between "had a little too much" and "had a lot too much" looks like?
You've never drank have you? It isn't hard for kids to get alcohol.... Sounds like a lot of bullshit sorry for your friends they must be really kicking themselves sounds like a good opportunity lost And how do kids get alcohol? Why would I be asking such a ridiculously naive question, right? One of my friends had a fake. People really don't check too hard. I feel just awful for my friend Reed- his case is definitely the exception here. I really wish I could have argued well enough to save him, but the precedent is the precedent exactly as Morfildur said. They really couldn't have let up any ground on their policy, as clunky and impersonal as it is.
How long have you known Reed? Why would your friends have him take care of the sick girl? Is he capable of distinguishing between whether someone he didn't watch drink has drunk a little too much or a lot too much? If the girl had gotten alcohol poisoning, or Reed had raped her, who would be responsible / liable? People always think that shit doesn't happen to people they know, except it happens.
I understand you feel lonely, and that you haven't taken a moral stance in your posts, but for the other people here claiming a great injustice was done - every person who was expelled made a serious error in judgment. Reed's good intentions don't absolve him of that.
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I'm sorry for your loss of friends, but they pretty much got what they deserved (except for the guy who didn't drink but got expelled for not reporting). Part of being in prestigious communities (like Harvard) is obeying the rules until you're great enough to stretch them and cross over. As young new-joiners, your crowd should have known and acted accordingly.
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I know it's hard to say goodbye too, as many of the people at that summer program come from far away and you might not be able to see them again, so I feel sad for you.
I have a friend who's currently taking classes there, and I live in Toronto, so I know that people can come from far away.
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