GUEST COLUMNIST: Perspectives on Penn's alcohol policy

My friend, Mike Tobin I write to you now as a good friend and classmate of Michael Tobin. I had the honor of playing three years of lacrosse with him and also had the pleasure of being Michael's fraternity brother. Michael's death is as much about the capriciousness of life as it is about alcohol. Why? Because for four years at Penn I drank lots, studied hard, goofed off, played lacrosse -- and for three of those years I did this with Mike. We did them on the field while playing for our alma mater and off the field as young guys having fun. And yes, we sometimes had excessive amounts of alcohol in our bodies. From what I saw, so did many members of the Penn community. I rarely drink now but I drank a lot back then. That was college. I wish that Rodin and everyone else would look a little more critically at the situation. Michael graduated four years ago. He is not an uninitiated freshman or a MIT student who drank himself to death. The DP quotes Rodin as saying "It's not some joke anymore. It's not some scene out of Animal House. People are dying now. Just ask Michael Tobin's family." I highly suspect that Michael Tobin's family would yell back at her, "Don't sacrifice our son for your agenda." This is more about life than about Michael. He was an All-Ivy lacrosse star, a super nice guy who made you feel great and a person full of enthusiasm and life. This ain't about alcohol. If you casually dismiss his death with such a slight of the keyboard or of the lips, you kill Michael's memory. When my good friend, 1994 Penn graduate Mary Maguire, was killed by a drunk driver in San Antonio soon after our graduation, everyone was devastated because of the unfairness. She was a victim. When our dear friend Michael Tobin dies by a twisted hand of fate, and the only thing that people want to talk about is alcohol, it pains me deeply. I guess the press and Penn are all looking for the murderer -- and they found it -- alcohol. If they spent a little more time looking at the victim and less trying to categorize this as another "Alcohol-Related Death," they might see more. They might see Michael Tobin. What if Michael had not been drinking. Would we feel differently? Would we feel that life robbed him of a future that was a bright as yours or mine? Michael was not a rookie. He had -- all of us at Penn last time I checked -- spent lots of days drinking and having fun, seeing friends, going to bars and doing what people at Penn do. If I told you that he had walked or ran up those stairs 50 times while drunk, would it see more tragic that this time, his foot slipped? What if the light bulb had burned out or he sneezed or an animal distracted him? I am not trying to defend alcohol. I am simply trying to shed some light, so that when you judge Michael Tobin, you judge him fairly. I wasn't there and I didn't see what happened, but I do know that Michael was a victim. For the rest of my life I will always see those handsome dimples from his boyish face and imposing body that ran as fast as any lacrosse player ever ran, with the grace of a dancer. He had all the qualities of a natural leader, refined good looks and so much life pumping through his veins that I still do not believe he is gone. I just hope that everyone who writes, speaks or thinks the name Michael Tobin will do him the kind favor of looking at the person rather than just the statistic.