Circle of Trust

There's a new student organization on campus called Circle of Trust. Inspired by the example set by the Gordie Foundation, Circle of Trust is dedicated to changing college culture in terms of the way we consume alcohol. According to Circle of Trust's Facebook group, "Through the Gordie Foundation’s creative merchandising and marketing, college students have the power to spread the message of responsible drinking, moderation, compassion for others, and intolerance of hazing."

The Gordie Foundation was created in memory of Gordie Bailey, a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder who died in 2004 at the Chi Psi fraternity house on "bid night." According to the Gordie Foundation's website, on this night Gordie and 26 other pledges went into the woods and were told to drink four handles of whiskey and six bottles of wine around a fire in half an hour. Gordie was intoxicated when they returned to the fraternity house, and as he slept on the couch, his fraternity brothers wrote on his body. According to the Gordie Foundation's website, he "slept it off" for 10 hours before he was found dead, face down on the floor, and no one called for help.

This is the kind of tragic and dangerous story that more students should know about before they make irresponsible drinking decisions. There is little you can do to stop a group of 27 year old college freshmen from drinking alcohol; there is plenty you can do to prevent them from drinking ten bottles of alcohol in half an hour.

The Circle of Trust strives to help educate DePaul students about the dangers of binge drinking, alcohol poisoning, hazing, and the side affects of irresponsible drinking such as sexual assault, violence, loss of self control, criminal activity, and the negative health and academic consequences. There are Circle of Trust chapters in colleges and high schools all across the country, and they are all working to make sure that what happened to Gordie will not happen again.

We've all heard the hazing horror stories from high schools and colleges across the country. Let's make sure that this never happens to a DePaul student.