Negative views on a collges reputation Research Paper - 1

Negative views on a collges reputation - Research Paper Example The image that parents like of a college is that of well groomed, happy students who are academically focused and facing challenges that are no more difficult than the next exam. However, the exploration of self during the time period of college can lead to some risk behaviors that puts students in situations that threaten their safety. Most of the time, these situations are navigated and the parents have the illusion of a safe and secure child that is away at college. However, drinking statistics suggest that there is a better than 50% chance that their child is participating in heavy drinking once a week. The more terrifying survey result shows that college students don’t learn from the bad experiences they have while under the influence of alcohol and routinely underestimate that amount of alcohol they can drink before consequences are likely to occur (Knox and Schacht 475). When these behaviors lead to a situation that is beyond waking up with regret, an incident can occur that puts the university and the students at the center of the public stage, its reputation on the line and the safety of the students under its care in question. This happened to Duke University when members of the Lacrosse team held a party on March 13, 2006 which involved drinking and resulted in the decision to call an escort service to provide two Caucasian strippers. One African American arrived and one partial Asian woman arrived at the party, which caused some difficulties as they were not as ordered and in the end, the African American woman ended up accusing three of the members of the team, including the two captains of the team, with rape (Taylor and Johnson). The occasion of hiring strippers for athletic team parties was not uncommon on the campus and Taylor and Johnson report that as many as twenty parties that year had already occurred in which strippers had been