A student dies, and how does the university respond?

In short, with nearly nothing of substance.

The university had an opportunity to reach out to the Penn State and State College communities as well as the family and friends of the slain Penn State student Michael Donahue, but instead, it took the easy way out.

Instead, university officials described a situation in which alcohol was the sole participant in last Thursday's stabbing.

In what could be considered a shameful response, University spokesman Bill Mahon described in a Feb. 22 guest column the ways in which "insane" bar specials are to blame for most of the local crime, and how media outlets, such as The Daily Collegian, unabashedly promote drinking among college students.

What kind of condolence is that?

"While Michael was dying in Mount Nittany Medical Center, the Collegian printed yet another photo of students playing beer pong in Friday's paper," Mahon said.

But what he neglected to mention was that 48 hours later, University President Graham Spanier was playing the washboard with the Phyrst Phamily in front of a packed college-aged audience at the Phyrst.

If the university were really as intent on promoting its anti-drinking agenda, then why is its most visible figure entertaining presumably intoxicated students?

The university's self-righteous finger-pointing will do little to allay the sadness felt by a family grieving over their son's death and the concern felt by a still-shaken community.

A student died, and all students get is a sophomoric response from one university official who offers not condolences, but instead, a lecture on the dangers of drinking with a bulleted list of local statistics attached.

Who would have thought that a photo printed in the Collegian on Feb. 17 of students playing beer pong on a warm, spring-like day would promote alcohol consumption among individuals who are supposedly intelligent enough to make their own decisions.

Shouldn't a certain amount of responsibility and accountability fall on the shoulders of university officials, who in the very least could offer at least 10 cents worth of a half-hearted condolence?

Shouldn't parents send their sons and daughters to college with the reasonable expectation that their children will return home safely after a night out with friends?

Shouldn't students have a right to know that this giant blue and white machine cares about students, who are the mainstay of any higher-learning institution?

Perhaps it's university officials and not students who are acting child-like and need to sit in the timeout corner to think about their actions. Maybe they need a few moments to collect themselves and think about how they can take time out of their busy schedules to say a few words about the tragedy that happened last Friday.

Instead of manipulating a tragedy into an opportunistic strategy to promote Penn State's anti-drinking campaign, perhaps they should have given more thought to the fact that Donahue, and each student on campus for that matter, is not a simply a statistic to be used to promote an agenda.

What a novel idea.