SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Pennsylvania State University orders student groups to disband
A US college outdoors club is being disbanded because its activities, which include hiking, running and backpacking, are deemed too risky.
Pennsylvania State University officials said the group will be reconstituted to focus more on safety.
The 98-year-old Outing Club is one of three that will be disbanded from next semester: the caving and scuba clubs have also been deemed unsafe.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Pennsylvania State University Disbands "Outing Club" Due to Safety Concerns
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 56 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Oh, that sound of male ego. You travel halfway across the galaxy and
it's still the same song.
-- Eve McHuron, "Mudd's Women", stardate 1330.1
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 26 2018, @11:49PM (5 children)
At my Uni I and my friends didn't join any such clubs, we just got together for epic 1000 mile road trips with all the same associated risks of young adult judgement at large in the world, but with none of the safeguards of a larger organization with experience and oversight. Nobody died (in our groups); and we had nothing to do with that drunk idiot who tried to swing down the outside of the building from a 10th floor window to a 9th floor window while tied to a lamp cord.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday April 27 2018, @12:16PM (4 children)
I fail to understand why the uni needs to have anything to do with such a club. Can't the students form and run their own club, and how could the uni stop it?
Oh wait, is this about money?
While at uni I did a relatively expensive sport (a bit more dangerous than walking in the countryside) in a "university" club that was only so named because it was restricted to uni students. We got no money from the uni, and no supervision. When we went to away events we hired a mini-bus and shared paying for it. If necessary I could have done a cheaper sport like orienteering, just needing shoes, maps and a T shirt.
TBH, the sports I have mentioned were minority sports. The major sports like cricket, football and rowing did get uni subsidies, but I still fail to see why. If you want to play an activity, you should pay for it IMHO.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 27 2018, @02:04PM
Insurance liability.
Just because you don't want to and didn't expect something, doesn't mean you are let off the hook by failing to provide a warning to not do dangerous things.
Look at how bad the warning labels are in the USA. Buy a bottle of wine from France or Spain, and there is no such warning.
They have to say no, and do some hand waving with real policy changes, to escape liability.
If the students then decide to do it anyway, that is up to them.
I doubt any of it is nanny related stuff, although some of it may be part of the university trying to cultivate creative and outgoing students that adapt to changes and handle risk well.
Lawyers and Liability, as well as insurance coverage, do not adapt or handle risk well.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday April 27 2018, @03:14PM
There was a Lacrosse club at my Uni, and they played rough - it was sanctioned by the intramural sports committee, but all they got for that was time on the IM field and space to store their equipment, the rest of the money for equipment, etc. they had to come up with themselves. I don't know anybody who ever got more than a little bruised and sore on the IM field, but I do know a kid who went to a military academy and got a pretty heavy concussion just playing Lacrosse.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday April 28 2018, @11:12AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday April 28 2018, @07:42PM
Insurance? We never had any frigging insurance.