Seniors talk on alcohol abuse

Men's basketball tri-captain Jed Ryan put a bottle of Jack Daniels to his lips during his freshman year and woke up from a coma two days later in a hospital bed. And after Senior Class President Sarah Gleit's older brother partied one evening with drugs and alcohol, he never woke up at all. Ryan, a Wharton senior, and Gleit, a College senior, shared their experiences with alcohol abuse last night before a crowd of approximately 200 people as part of "The Penn Drinking Project," a Drug and Alcohol Resource Team event. After attending a Sigma Chi hotel party in 1996, Ryan said he "almost died." "I want to kick your ass," Ryan's father -- an ex-Marine -- told him after he woke up with "a tube in [his] throat the size of a human hand." Ryan said his father then added, "It looks like you already kicked your own ass." Ryan told those in the Terrace Room of Logan Hall he did not want to "preach" last night, but rather was there to stress that "alcohol affects not only you but your entire family." Gleit preceded Ryan with an account of her family's encounter with alcohol abuse. She told the crowd that her brother -- a Pennsylvania State University graduate -- died two weeks after his 1996 graduation from a combination of alcohol and other drugs. "I figured he was invincible," Gleit said of the 6'1", 250-lb. varsity wrestler. The Phi Sigma Sigma sister warned the audience to watch for signs of drug abuse in family and friends. Gleit said she still wonders whether her brother could have been saved "if his friends had warned us." "I just know that it doesn't have to happen to any of us," she added. The Senior Class Board, the InterFraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity and the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority co-sponsored the DART program. As part of SAM's disciplinary agreement following its violation of the dry rush policy at a New Jersey bowling alley in January, the fraternity is "required to have a high level of involvement with DART," according to health educator and DART advisor Kate Ward-Gaus. New SAM President Jason Post, a College junior, confirmed that "this program is part of the culture change that SAM is helping foster." College junior Sara Vakil, who is in charge of risk management for Theta, contacted DART last week to allow its new members to get involved with yesterday's educational program. "Since we are on probation, we are trying to make our chapter stronger," Vakil noted. Theta's new members -- who said they had not heard the seniors' stories prior to receiving e-mails about the event -- described the evening as "humbling." In addition to Theta, several other sororities brought their new member classes. During the brief open-mike portion of the evening, a male who noted he was "one of the few guys here tonight," urged the women present to be wary of intoxicated men at campus social events. On Monday, Gleit said she had been planning since sophomore year to publicly reveal her story as a senior. She noted that she sees her peers -- the senior class, with whom she feels "very comfortable and close" -- doing "exactly what my brother did" and risking their lives. Gleit said she initially approached University President Judith Rodin with her idea and was referred DART.

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