TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

Phi Gamma Delta has produced a new powerful video aimed at the problem of binge drinking.  It is dedicated to the memory of Scott Krueger “and to the strength and courage of the Krueger family.”

Scott Krueger died in the fall of 1997 following a party at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology Phi Gamma Delta House.  A series of legal claims followed.  Settlements were reached with both MIT (for over $6 million) and with Phi Gamma Delta.  Part of the settlement with the fraternity was an agreement that the fraternity would produce an educational video designed to tell Scott’s story in the hopes of discouraging others from engaging in similar conduct.

The video,“Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” recently received a 2003 Emmy Award as an outstanding documentary.

A press release announcing the Heartland Emmy Award noted that the film offers “heavy hitting facts about the ramifications of alcohol abuse” and that a sampling of students to whom it is targeted have “called the film ‘attention-getting,’ ‘very real,’ and ‘not preachy.’”

The video reminds viewers of the tragic consequences of binge drinking and the legal liability that may be imposed, including criminal proceedings and civil (monetary) liability for those who encourage it, or who know about it but do nothing to stop it.  “Tell Me Something” tracks the too frequent ties between hazing and alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse and sexual assault, and alcohol abuse and injury to one’s self or to others.

Most dramatically, through the words of Dr. Richard M. Schwartzstein from the Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was one of Scott’s treating physicians, the story of Scott’s death is told from the party through the discovery by his fraternity brothers that Scott could not be aroused and had apparently stopped breathing, to the call by Dr. Schwartzstein to Scott’s family and Scott’s ultimate death some 72 hours after the party.

Accompanying the video is a facilitator guide to be used in encouraging discussions among groups who view the video.

Copies of the video and the guide may be purchased from the International Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, through its web site: www.phigam.org.  DVD copies are $20.00; VHS tapes are $15.00.