Editorial: A tragic, all-too-memorable year at BU

With two months to go, Bradley University's 2007-08 academic year already is memorable, and not for the reasons anyone would prefer.

The Hilltop saw tragedy last August when 19-year-old Danny Dahlquist died in an off-campus house fire started by his buddies, three of whom were roommates and soccer teammates, when they shoved Roman candles under the sophomore's door. It was a prank gone wrong. No harm was intended, but harm happened, nonetheless.

So, too, are people calling the early Sunday death of another BU student an accident. The investigation is ongoing, but police say 21-year-old Robert M. Hurt died after 19-year-old pal Brandon Gish pushed him into traffic while they were walking on University Street just after midnight. It was "horseplay and shoving" gone awry, police said. Hurt's mother said the two "were like brothers."

Comparisons between the incidents are inevitable, partly for the forgiveness shown by the Dahlquist and Hurt families, but also for the fatally immature behavior alleged of these young adults. Is it really an "accident" when one tempts a terrible fate so blatantly? There also are questions as to the degree alcohol influenced the behavior of these men. Dahlquist's friends changed their lives forever after a night of drinking. Police have cited Gish and another person for illegal consumption. Peoria County's coroner said preliminary toxicology tests on Hurt showed his blood-alcohol content was .197, more than twice the legal limit.

Bradley is not unique among universities struggling with illegal and irresponsible drinking. Alcohol plays a role in the deaths of 1,400 18- to 24-year-olds annually, says the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. When do such statistics begin to change behavior for the better?

Besides the tragedy of another young life cut short, that's what we find most upsetting about Hurt's death. BU students already had one real-life lesson in loss before classes even started. With the January sentencing of Dahlquist's friends, students had a case study on the consequences of unthinking acts. Their involuntary manslaughter convictions and six-month jail terms were supposed to send a "message," said Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons, "that fun is fun, but enough is enough."

Two months are left in a school year that will long be remembered on and off the Hilltop. Haven't we had enough?

Peoria Journal Star