Don't Scapegoat Cantor Tragedy

The University of Michigan community was stunned and saddened by the tragic death on October 16th of freshman Courtney Cantor. Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding her bizarre death, which resulted from a fall from her sixth floor dorm room window at Mary Markley, seem to ensure that her death will not be an inconsequential one.

The veil of fog surrounding the events of that evening has lifted enough to reveal the dim outlines of what occurred. Cantor, a recent pledge of the Chi Omega sorority, attended a party at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and apparently consumed alcohol. (Her blood alcohol level, however, was later measured at .059 percent, below the legal driving limit of .1 percent.) At 3am she took a cab home to Markley, and some time between 3 and 5am, fell out her window to her death.

It is in our nature as human beings to seek a cause for every effect, and this tendency to search for answers only increases when the situation we are observing seems most senseless and inexplicable. Unfortunately, in our desperation to find answers we often try to name scapegoats; our need for closure makes us search for someone to be held accountable for an undeserved tragedy. In the case of Courtney Cantor, the list of potential suspects is obvious: the Greek system, for perpetuating an atmosphere where drinking is not only encouraged but seemingly required; the University, for failing to adequately prepare students to deal with the potential dangers of alcohol; even Cantor herself may come under fire from some quarters for drinking while underage.

However, naming a scapegoat for the death of Courtney Cantor would be a terrible mistake. Singling out the Greek system for its history of alcohol abuse would serve no useful purpose; while it is certainly true that the Greek system as a whole has a long-standing problem with alcohol, it must be remembered that drinking is a pervasive element of 1990s undergraduate life, not limited to fraternities and sororities. Today’s underage student seeking alcohol has many options at his disposal, so singling out the Greeks for punishment will not significantly stem the tide of underage drinking on campus.

Similarly, it is unfair and unrealistic to hold the University responsible for every single tragedy that befalls its students. Yes, the ‘U’ does have a limited role to play in encouraging its students to use liquor responsibly, but ultimately students must be recognized for what they are — young adults who must be allowed to accept full responsibility for their actions.

We urge the U-M community to refrain from rash judgments about who (if anyone) is ultimately most responsible for Courtney Cantor’s tragic and premature passing. Let us accept that sometimes accidents and cruel tragedies happen with no apparent rhyme or reason to explain them; with no discernible cause or villain to blame. Let us resist the temptation to do what so many have done in the wake of other student deaths at Michigan — the temptation to use death to advance our own political agendas. Let us, instead, take Courtney Cantor’s death for what it is: a grim reminder of the fragile, fleeting nature of our humanity, and a terrible but useful antidote to our generation’s foolish aura of youthful invincibility. Perhaps then her death will not have been in vain. MR

This article was published in the 28 October 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 17, Number 3).
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