Posted on 04/23/2018 6:46:31 PM PDT by Simon Green
What's more dangerous: rugby, or a walk in the woods? At Pennsylvania State University, the administrators apparently think it's the latter.
The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"The types of activities in which [Penn State Outing Club] engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," according to an official announcement.
A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage. This wasn't an issue during the Coolidge administration, but now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times.
"Student safety in any activity is our primary focus," Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman, told The Post-Gazette.
And yet the treasurer of the Outing Club said that he hadn't heard of any injuries sustained on club outings in recent years.
Leslie Demmert, the angry alum who alerted me to this travesty, said in an email:
Students can still play field hockey, rugby, and football at Penn State...but they can no longer enjoy a cave or go scuba diving or even make an outdoor adventure under the guidance of trained student leaders at Penn State. Why? It's too dangerous to be out of cell phone range. I'm an alumna ('71, Liberal Arts) and I'm furious that Penn State administration allows indoor activities but has hobbled healthy, outdoor leadership and controlled risk-taking opportunities.
Where are people supposed to learn to try new things if not in college? How will they learn new adventures and outdoor recreation if they aren't supported?
Penn State wants to be more than a football school. How about they reconsider this shortsighted decision on organizations that have proven themselves to be safe and inexpensive, financially and emotionally, for over half a century?
The Post-Gazette's Don Hopey reports that the administration is hoping to reform the Outing Club into some kind of movie-watching club:
Ms. Powers said meetings between the Outing Club's student leaders and the university are "ongoing" about the club's future role on campus.
Those talks are focused on the possibility of "forming a different kind of club," [current club president Richard] Waltz said, one that still holds film festivals and hosts speakers, but can no longer lead students on walks in the woods.
Maybe they can take virtual reality walks in a padded room—provided there's cell service
Maybe the university risk assessors would allow the Outing Club members to hike around campus under armed guards, as long as they had cell phone service.
Never had the tractor experience. Sounds like you can relate to having your buddy tow strap you out of the woods with his bike. Riding a trail with no power, off camber, heck of a ride! Man, I really enjoyed those days of riding the N.E. woods.
LOL, I was working a job there for about 6 months prior to all that Sandusky crap. I remember reading the local rag and I had developed a dislike for that Spanier (sp) individual. Creep radar pegged.
If Penn State has any legal liabilities on these outings I can understand why they cancel them. If such is the case they should cancel all sporting activities and in particular gymnastics and football. Many a neck has been broken in these two sports. They have not and will not.
What the hell is wrong with Penn State?
the dangers of the off-campus field trips are still FAR less than the dangers (and damage) to students of what goes on in some college classrooms these days (anti-American
communisticNaziIslamic propaganda and brain-washing)
indeed, the more time the students spend outside those classrooms, the better for them!
He’s a noted Wife Swapping Studies Scholar....
“A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage”
This is MADNESS!!!
My granddaughter attended a wilderness type semester in her Junior year of High School——no cell phones for the entire semester——and REALLY rough outdoor camping in the Rockies-—in the winter.
The world has gone nuts!
.
.
“Risk Management” is killing common sense in this world.
I taught my children at a very young age to read road maps. On our long summer trips, each would take turns in the passenger seat beside me being my “navigator.” They learned a lot from the experience and still speak of such and such a time when they were “navigating” for me. They have excellent orientation and seldom use GPS.
Oh....I thought is was a club who “outted” closeted gays.....
....and they were shutting down, because there weren’t any......closeted.....
Penn State outdoorsmen, hands slapped and scolded by Big Nanny.
The club ought to tell the Penn State administration that their “outing” is a “gay thing”. Then they’d get permission to do anything they want.
What a chickenshit school Penn State has become. It used to be feared. Now it is laughed at.
How about renaming it “Snowflake Un.”?
Today, “Rebelliion” means being bussed to a particular location, and being handed preprinted signs and chants by the school administration. They do not want students to solve problems on their own.
“I found a few of them in my attic a few years ago and I showed them to one of my then teenage sons. From his point of view, I might as well have been unrolling the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
And that’s really too bad. Having had GPS ever since it came out, I can say it’s science, not magic, and it’s let me down often enough that I always take a dead tree map along with me on a long trip.
I was a avid member of the Sierra Cub before it turned into a communist conspiracy. It had great wilderness outings. The best one I went on was a genuine wilderness canoe trip on the Dumoine River in Quebec in 1975 or 1976, long before cell phones. We did 107 miles in 7 days and were near any type of civilization that could have helped us in event of an accident on only the first and last days of the trip. Otherwise, we were in total wilderness and entirely on our own. That kind of thing is the whole idea of an outing Club.
Hard to keep the snowflakes in snowflake mode after they’ve climbed a mountain or rafted through Class V rapids.
“Busybody Lawyers. “
Heck, it usually isn’t even lawyers. Risk managers are usually prior insurance sales bimbos that are major busybodies.
Amen on that. I do the same.
It is also disheartening to see how many people have no ability to read a map.
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