At the corner of Bedell Road and West River Parkway on Grand Island, a makeshift memorial has sprouted up to the latest victim of drunk driving's infinite tragedy. A car driven by Erie Community College student Travis Hennigar, reportedly traveling at speeds up to 100 mph, plunged into the Niagara River last Sunday morning. His passenger, UB student Jeffrey Critelli, escaped by kicking out the sunroof. Hennigar is missing and presumed dead.
Both were seen at a party thrown by UB fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi and then PJ Bottoms, the Main Street destination of countless underage partiers. The Erie County Sheriff's Department confirmed Critelli was drunk at approximately 4:30 a.m., when the accident occurred. Indeed, Critelli was inebriated when questioned the next morning by police and could not confirm if Hennigar was as well due to his condition at the time. Given the rather harmless nature of the intersection, and the car's location 150 feet from shore, Hennigar's blood alcohol level was undoubtedly higher than the legal limit.
As a result, Vice President for Student Affairs Dennis Black suspended all fraternity and sorority activities at least through Saturday. No doubt this decision has caused some grumbling among UB's Greek population. Too bad. A student, who obtained alcohol at a Greek function, is dead. The event Hennigar and Critelli attended was supposed to be an alcohol-free rush event. "Alcohol-free" was not a suggestion. It is a hard and fast rule, not just for rush events - no Greek functions are allowed to serve alcohol to non-members unless through a third-party vendor. Despite the rancor and hubbub that accompany virtually all Greek social functions, Alpha Sigma Phi had a responsibility to monitor partygoers. To anybody who pleads the difficulty of such a task: Travis Hennigar is dead. This is a warning to all other Greek organizations: your actions, or lack thereof, have consequences. Change your ways before someone else gets hurt.
The scarlet letter of blame is pinned squarely upon PJ Bottoms, as well. The club's lackluster enforcement of drinking-age laws is a secret to absolutely no one. The fact that they would serve drunk, underage students alcohol, while not surprising, is no less despicable.
What makes this tragedy so regrettable is how preventable it was. There is no excuse for anyone to get behind the wheel of a car drunk. Take a cab, take a bus, have a friend drive you home. It came at too high a price, but Hennigar's death serves as a wakeup call to the UB community, stating the case, quite graphically, for more personal responsibility. Although many outside factors contributed to the accident, Hennigar and Critelli ultimately controlled their own fate; they controlled how much alcohol they consumed that night. This doesn't absolve the culpable parties from their responsibility, but merely recognizes that everyone needs to take part in altering the lackadaisical attitude towards alcohol. As the events of Sunday morning demonstrated, the danger is no joke.
Sunday's accident also demonstrates the need for an unwavering Greek policy from the administration. Despite statements by President Greiner and other administrators that Greek presence is driven by student interest, it is obvious increased Greek involvement is part of UB's overall plan for the revival and improvement of the university. If it weren't, why would UB have hired a Greek liaison whose sole occupation is to promote and organize the school's Greek system? If the administration wants Greeks to be more involved, and cut down on incidents like this, they should bring the Greeks home. On-campus Greek housing would answer the first desire, and help eliminate the second problem.
Punishments will be handed down and policies will be either changed or enforced better. The fact still remains one person is dead, and it could have been prevented. And all the actions taken after the fact will be too little, too late.
