Student Deaths

x in the city

Is it just me or is there an inordinarly amount of students at ucc dying, its mad to think students in the prime of their lifes die, 3 died over christmas? and one at an arts ball last nite apparently...


what gives...?

bazmaiden

From what??

BigCheese

Its terrible alright. In fairness I think most of them were freak accidents, like that guy during Rag week last year, and the most recent guy on Thursday night, as well as suicide, which is the biggest killer of young men in Ireland.

RIP

Byron85

BigCheese wrote: »

Its terrible alright. In fairness I think most of them were freak accidents, like that guy during Rag week last year, and the most recent guy on Thursday night, as well as suicide, which is the biggest killer of young men in Ireland.

RIP

Apparently though we rank relatively low on the statistics for suicides across all of Europe. I found some statistics about it somewhere not long ago.

BigCheese

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

Apparently though we rank relatively low on the statistics for suicides across all of Europe. I found some statistics about it somewhere not long ago.

Really? I'm surprised by that, I thought we were up there with the Scandanavian countries.

I do know that suicide is a bigger killer than car crashes but while 40 + million is spent on the RSA, only 4 million is spent on suicide prevention. Really tell you the priorities of the present government. Young people are unlikely to vote so they couldn't give a flying fucc about them :mad:

Byron85

BigCheese wrote: »

Really? I'm surprised by that, I thought we were up there with the Scandanavian countries.

I do know that suicide is a bigger killer than car crashes but while 40 + million is spent on the RSA, only 4 million is spent on suicide prevention. Really tell you the priorities of the present government. Young people are unlikely to vote so they couldn't give a flying fucc about them :mad:

I was surprised by it too as back where i'm from, there have been a lot of suicides/ attempted suicides in the last 6 years.

Edit: Found the list. We're pretty far down it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

pirateninja

6 UCC students have died this year. All of them in 3rd year or under.

Smurphette

pirateninja wrote: »

6 UCC students have died this year. All of them in 3rd year or under.

7.

Victor

A few things.

When you have tens of thousands of people, some of them will die each year.

The age profile for deaths is something along the lines of small peaks in the 0-5 year old group (generally diseases, often congenital diseases) and in the 17-25 year old groups (accidents, suicide, homocide, contagious diseases caught in exotic locations).

Very few people die aged 5-17 as they are healthy enough to have survived the world in early childhood and young enough to not be dabbling in drink, drugs, fisticuffs, motorised vehicles or combinations thereof. Over the age of 25, people tend to settle down a bit and are less likely to experiment with extreme stuff. Gradually death rates rise up to the age of 60-65 at which point they rise sharply - retiring from work results in some people losing the will to live and/or a lifetime of abusing their bodies catches up with them.

Given that we have very low mortality rates at childbirth (some of the lowest in the world) and in early childhood, deaths in the 17-25 group are the major factor affecting overall life expectancy.

rebel girl 15

BigCheese wrote: »

Really? I'm surprised by that, I thought we were up there with the Scandanavian countries.

I do know that suicide is a bigger killer than car crashes but while 40 + million is spent on the RSA, only 4 million is spent on suicide prevention. Really tell you the priorities of the present government. Young people are unlikely to vote so they couldn't give a flying fucc about them :mad:

Problem is that suicide and depression are such taboo subjects still, despite the leaps Ireland has made with other taboo subjects. There is not enough being spent on providing parasuicide nurses and other forms of help. The stats say that young men between 16-25 are most at risk of suicide while girls in that age group are most at risk of self harming.

With Adam Buggy, the arts student that died last week, Gardai are looking at some sinister circumstances, including the possibility that he could have been followed or even chased, and that he was assaulted earlier in the evening
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/assault-probe-follows-tragic-crash-2051110.html

3rd year student before last years RAG week, 3rd year student before this years RAG week - when you think about it like that it is freaky

Eliot Rosewater

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Problem is that suicide and depression are such taboo subjects still...

Bang on the money. Even on this very forum, where you think taboo would be lessened due to anonymity. No, any attempt to discuses the alcohol culture of UCC and how it can cause deaths here is met with a variety of: passing the buck (oh, but sure all all Unis do it), being labeled an S.U. hater (that seemingly entitles the accuser to ignore you), or being called insensitive or some other term designed to shut you up and hide the issue.

rebel girl 15

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Bang on the money. Even on this very forum, where you think taboo would be lessened due to anonymity. No, any attempt to discuses the alcohol culture of UCC and how it can cause deaths here is met with a variety of: passing the buck (oh, but sure all all Unis do it), being labeled an S.U. hater (that seemingly entitles the accuser to ignore you), or being called insensitive or some other term designed to shut you up and hide the issue.

I agree regarding there being an alcohol problem within the college, but I think it is a problem within every college tbh. I don't think enough is being done to tackle it, and despite some efforts, RAG week will be about going out getting hammered

samf

Please bear in mind that there is a Gardai investigation currently ongoing into this, and public speculation/rumor mongering might be distasteful and/or disrespectful. Especially for friends and family of the deceased, who may even be users here.

Aodan83

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

I agree regarding there being an alcohol problem within the college, but I think it is a problem within every college tbh. I don't think enough is being done to tackle it, and despite some efforts, RAG week will be about going out getting hammered

I dont think its just confined to the colleges though. Pretty much everything in this country is linked with drink; weddings funerals, sporting events. The GAA championships were sponsored by Guiness for years. That means one of the largest, non-governmental, associations in the country that deals with children, is sponsored by an alcohol company.

Eliot Rosewater

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

passing the buck

.....

Aodan83 wrote: »

I dont think its just confined to the colleges though.

Seriously, whos going to have the courage to deal with the issue if were too busy passing the responsibility around?

Buceph

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Seriously, whos going to have the courage to deal with the issue if were too busy passing the responsibility around?

It's not that no-one has the courage, it's that their approach has been entirely wrong. Vilifying drinkers, acting holier than thou, having no sense of humour and demanding abstinence are all things that the anti-drink campaigners have done wrong. Even the anti-drink label is damaging.

grenache

I've never understood the mentality of people going out with the sole purpose of getting absolutely pissed. And yet bizarrely most students seem to consider it as some badge of honour. Its really sad that teenagers today think its cool to be totally ****-faced walking around Patrick St on a Saturday night. I blame the parents. Kids are not being brought up to respect alcohol. I drink to enjoy myself, not to get drunk. I know my limits and stick by them. Drink and its ill-effects are systemic throughout Irish society today. The whole culture has to change, from advertising right up to a zero tolerance of drink driving. Colleges also have a role to play in this

x in the city

hot birds giving out flyers to get **** faced at all events with cocktails for a euro and pints for a little more is not very clever either.

obviously young lads are easily led, end up getting pissed enough to think its ok to walk out of city bounds onto motorways alone to get home.

the ucc people who are responible for these events need to re think a bit, but of course they will say no one is telling lads to go out and get slaughtered on booze.

Eliot Rosewater

Buceph wrote: »

It's not that no-one has the courage, it's that their approach has been entirely wrong.

Indeed it is. Did anyone happen to get one of those flyers advising you on how to have a responsible house party? Among the suggestions were:

• Have a non-alcoholic night. As if people are going to pay attention to this, especially on Rag Week.
• Make one person a non-drinking warden of the party to make sure everyones ok and monitor noise.
• Make someone a warden of the door to watch whos coming in and out.
• Provide food and non-alcoholic drink for under-agers.
• Organize lifts for people, or if not, pay for taxis.

Do people who write these guides live on planet cuckoo land or something? In making it totally unreasonable they basically alienate people who would otherwise pay attention to it.

deisedude

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Indeed it is. Did anyone happen to get one of those flyers advising you on how to have a responsible house party? Among the suggestions were:

• Have a non-alcoholic night. As if people are going to pay attention to this, especially on Rag Week.
• Make one person a non-drinking warden of the party to make sure everyones ok and monitor noise.
• Make someone a warden of the door to watch whos coming in and out.
• Provide food and non-alcoholic drink for under-agers.
• Organize lifts for people, or if not, pay for taxis.

Do people who write these guides live on planet cuckoo land or something? In making it totally unreasonable they basically alienate people who would otherwise pay attention to it.

Whats wrong with those suggestions? They all seem like sensible ideas

Rebecca4welfare

I won't comment on the rest of the thread, but the houseparty tips doesn't say "have a non alcoholic party". It says "have a theme. Alcohol need not be the focus of your party". It just means that rather than having a party where the sole purpose is to get stocious you can have a party that has another element and another bit of fun with it.

Eliot Rosewater

deisedude wrote: »

Whats wrong with those suggestions? They all seem like sensible ideas

They're completely unreasonable. When we got the leaflets they were taken as a joke. Seriously, are you really going to appoint a non-drinking moderator for your party?

Once these leaflets become a joke no one pays attention to them. If you put 4 or 5 reasonable suggestions, or just edited out all the looney ones, you might be left with something of value.

@Rebecca4welfare: point taken.

deisedude

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

They're completely unreasonable. When we got the leaflets they were taken as a joke. Seriously, are you really going to appoint a non-drinking moderator for your party?

Once these leaflets become a joke no one pays attention to them. If you put 4 or 5 reasonable suggestions, or just edited out all the looney ones, you might be left with something of value.

@Rebecca4welfare: point taken.

Whats unreasonable about one person not drinking for a night to make sure the house isn't trashed?

Eliot Rosewater

deisedude wrote: »

Whats unreasonable about one person not drinking for a night to make sure the house isn't trashed?

It unreasonable asking people to do that because it obviously wont happen.

deisedude

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

It unreasonable asking people to do that because it obviously wont happen.

That doesn't make it unreasonable. The idea smacks of common sense and is relatively easily achieved. I fail to see how thats unreasonable. I'd go as far to say students are unreasonable for not even considering the suggestions

Eliot Rosewater

deisedude wrote: »

That doesn't make it unreasonable.

Im not saying the idea is unreasonable. Im saying asking students to implement them is unreasonable as they arent going to happen.

Better to put down small suggestions that have a possibility of being introduced.

rotinaj

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I was surprised by it too as back where i'm from, there have been a lot of suicides/ attempted suicides in the last 6 years.

Edit: Found the list. We're pretty far down it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

A lot of suicides in Ireland are classed as death by misadventure. Thats why we are so low down on the list.

Professional Griefer

deisedude wrote: »

Whats unreasonable about one person not drinking for a night to make sure the house isn't trashed?

Have you ever spent the night with only a few drunk people? Its awful. Its slighty funny at times, but apart from that its hell, in my opinion in anyways. Imagine being around a house full of drunk people? Not a chance. You'd get stressed if everyone starts messing and you try to correct someone, they'll just pointlessly argue. My opinion in anyways.

Xluna

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I was surprised by it too as back where i'm from, there have been a lot of suicides/ attempted suicides in the last 6 years.

Edit: Found the list. We're pretty far down it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

Sad news to hear. I think a factor in those stats might be something to do with the traditional of familys not admitting that the victim died of suicide. Not so long ago the good old Catholic church banned suicide victims from being buried in church grounds.

Max001

Rebecca4welfare wrote: »

I won't comment on the rest of the thread, but the houseparty tips doesn't say "have a non alcoholic party". It says "have a theme. Alcohol need not be the focus of your party". It just means that rather than having a party where the sole purpose is to get stocious you can have a party that has another element and another bit of fun with it.

Well meant maybe, but basically flawed thinking. Theres a lot of research on the academic databases, carried out in third level institutions, indicating that at third level, education regarding health impacts of alcohol misuse is significantly more effective in reducing misuse and associated anti-social behaviour than proposing abstinence for example.

How difficult could it be to properly research the issue, liaise with CUH or HSE or an NGO to construct a coherent campaign to address problem and then implement. Too difficult obviously.

samf

Max001 wrote: »

education regarding health impacts of alcohol misuse is significantly more effective in reducing misuse and associated anti-social behaviour than proposing abstinence

But as Rebecca said the flyer doesnt recommend a houseparty without alcohol, it suggests one with a theme such as a toga party or something rather than a party where the whole point is to get as drunk as possible. It doesnt recommend abstinence?