The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

I'm not sure if the Atlantic article mentioned this or not, but the incident resulted in a lawsuit with a highly entertaining complaint:

http://lawhaha.com/wp-content/uploads/20...plaint.pdf

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

These aren't the type of incidents that only happen at fraternities, I've seen plenty of stupid and/or dangerous things happen during nights of heavy drinking at the colleges.

But you're right in that the good thing that we avoid with the lack of fraternities is hazing.

(02-25-2014 07:34 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

These aren't the type of incidents that only happen at fraternities, I've seen plenty of stupid and/or dangerous things happen during nights of heavy drinking at the colleges.

But you're right in that the good thing that we avoid with the lack of fraternities is hazing.

You've seen them or were part of them??

(02-25-2014 08:06 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(02-25-2014 07:34 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

These aren't the type of incidents that only happen at fraternities, I've seen plenty of stupid and/or dangerous things happen during nights of heavy drinking at the colleges.

But you're right in that the good thing that we avoid with the lack of fraternities is hazing.

You've seen them or were part of them??

I plead the fifth.

What is it with Marshall and carrots/posterior bottle rockets and their athletic teams?

cue banjo music

Here's what the author said in an NPR interview. Obviously it's not entirely as simple as this because alcohol finds its way around college campuses, but the point is not without merit.

Quote:If you take alcohol out of the fraternity house, if you make it an alcohol free residence, the number of claims drops by 85 percent and the severity of those claims, the dollar amount of those claims, drops by 95 percent. You show me any other industry that would have a chance to drop the number of claims by 85 percent and the severity by 95 percent by making a single change. If the fraternities are serious about cleaning up their act, that's the change they need to make and it's a very painful one.

After Rice's tragedy Friday night, I don't think we can throw stones at anyone. Sometimes tragic mistakes happen.

Let's just say that what I heard is not good. I shouldn't have said anything.

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

Long article is long. Yeesh.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arch...es/357580/

(02-26-2014 02:48 PM)talon owl Wrote:  

(02-24-2014 11:28 PM)75src Wrote:  The March 2014 Atlantic started off a story about fraternities with a description of what happened at a Spring 2011 party at the Alpha Tau Omega. An intoxicated Travis Hughes launched a bottle rocket from a posterior part of his body, which produced the muffled thud of a fire in the hole. Louis Helmburg III, an ace benchwarmer for the Thundering Herd baseball team, was filming the launch on his cellphone.Terrified, Helmberg staggered away from the human bomb and fell off the deck which was 4 feet above the ground. Helmberg became wedged between the structure and the air-conditioning unit and sustained injuries that would require medical attention and cut short his baseball season.

The prose is more interesting in the Atlantic article. One reason I choose to go to Rice was the lack of fraternities.

Long article is long. Yeesh.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arch...es/357580/

But fascinating. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, 75.