A 19-year-old student from Acadia University died Sept. 8 after a binge drinking incident during frosh week.
The deceased student was identified as Jonathan Andrews, from Calgary, Alta, CTV Calgary reported.
Andrews allegedly drank an entire 40-ounce bottle of liquor by himself, according to 660News in Calgary.
“People are devastated. This is just not something that is expected. This issue of high-risk drinking has been a challenge for every college and for every community,” Acadia president Ray Ivany told the CBC.
Ivany told the CBC that the incident was a “university president’s worst nightmare.”
“We’ve got 3,000 students on our campus. They’re here to start their university education and this is something that they work very, very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen and unfortunately in this case, it has.”
Ben Jessome, president of the Acadia Students’ Union, said students are doing what they can under the circumstances.
“People are just pretty shook up right now and it’s not a good time at Acadia but we’re doing our best to try and be supportive of everybody,” Jessome told the CBC. “There’s a lot of good people here on campus that are really stepping up to try and help out family out.”
Excessive alcohol consumption on university campuses isn’t a new problem. Last year at Queen’s University, two student related deaths on campus were alcohol related, according to chief coroner Roger Skinner.
Cameron Bruce, 18, fell out of a window during last year’s frosh week, and Habib Khan 19, fell through the skylight in Duncan MacArthur Hall in December of that year. The events prompted the university to ban alcohol during frosh week this year.
Carleton has also taken extra measures after the incidents at Queen’s.
“[Carleton’s] frosh is dry. I think this year has been especially dry because of the tragedy that happened in Kingston last year,” said Kaisha Thompson, president of the Rideau River Residence Association.
“Orientation leaders are always busy so they have basketball games, dances, and they had The Buried Life come, so they are kind of trying to occupy their time in a matter that is dry and not leaving them to fend for themselves.”
Despite all the efforts, there have still been some minor drinking issues, Thompson said.
Thompson said she finds it strange that the student, who was 19, died from an excess of drinking when he had been living in Alberta, where the legal drinking age is 18.
Although Carleton’s frosh week is officially dry, plenty of drinking occurring on campus during frosh week, said first-year student Amanda Smith.
“There was drinking on my floor every night during frosh,” said Smith, who lives in Carleton’s Russell House.
“It’s also a matter of culture I think and our North American culture does so much to glorify drinking that it’s tough for kids to think they can have a good time without it maybe,” Smith said. “If we can change the attitude and culture then I think we can change the amount of consumption.”
