The age-old mantra “it’ll never happen to me” is one particularly prevalent among college students.
But the thing is, stuff happens. People attend parties and forget their limits, break up with significant others and become depressed. People pick up a drink that’s been spiked, have families with personal issues, get stressed about school, become involved in a dangerous relationship — you name it, it happens.
If it doesn’t happen to you, it’ll happen to someone you know.
In 2009, at least two people fell from fraternity windows after drinking too much at a party. In 2011, Katy Benoit was shot and killed by a former University of Idaho professor after their personal relationship went sour and became dangerous. A 2013 rape trial dominated the local news after a UI student was sexually assaulted on campus in 2012. Joseph Wiederrick left a 2013 fraternity party under the influence and alone, and never made it back to campus before freezing to death in the January cold.
These are just the big headlines. Dozens more students have found themselves in situations just as dangerous over the years — leaving many hospitalized, traumatized or worse.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but each of these tragedies was preventable. All it took was someone — friend or stranger — to step up and ask if everything was OK.
Events like UI’s Safety Week are designed to help students, faculty and staff cope with these situations and even work to prevent them. It’s designed to provide people with the skills, confidence and ability to recognize a dangerous situation and do something about it. Because no matter how small your actions might seem, they can go a long way in stopping tragedy.
The “it’ll never happen to me” attitude will stop many students from attending Safety Week events, but this is the wrong approach. Safety Week is designed to help students learn how to prevent tragedies like the deaths of Katy Benoit, Joseph Wiederrick and countless other Vandals lost through the years.
It’s unfortunate that the influencing factor in developing Safety Week was the death of a UI student at the hands of a former professor, and it’s unfortunate that students have been left paralyzed from three-story falls. But if anything good can come from these tragedies, it’s the realization that it could, in fact, happen to you or someone you know.
So even if you truly believe it’ll never happen to you, attend the Safety Week events and learn what you can do to help. What’s the worst that could happen?
— KK