This happened last semester at the University I attend. Once again the media used an unfortunate incident to shine a negative light on hallucinogenic drugs.
Student dies after PFT jump
Issue date: 11/9/06
Funeral services for Dylan C. Prott will take place at 4 p.m. Monday at the First Unitarian Church in Louisville, according to his obituary in The Courier-Journal.
Prott, 18, a Louisville freshman, was found dead early Thursday morning after police were told at 12:26 a.m. that he had apparently jumped from his room on the 20th floor, said Bob Edwards, assistant vice president of university relations.
An preliminary autopsy report revealed that he suffered severe body trauma, said Harold Sanson, a Warren County deputy coroner.
The autopsy was performed Thursday in Louisville.
His body was found on the side of the building that faces University Boulevard, the Herald previously reported.
The Warren County Coroner's Office will determine the official cause of death and perform a toxicology test, which is expected to take 30 to 45 days, Edwards said.
"We'll learn a lot more here in the next couple of days and weeks," he said.
Officials withheld the victim's name until Thursday so they could confirm it and contact his family members, Edwards said.
"We're not classifying this as a suicide," Edwards said. "We're not classifying this as anything right now."
Prott was an English and allied arts major, said Mike Prott, Dylan's father.
"He was a bright light," Mike Prott said. "He was free-spirited."
Dylan Prott liked to play bass guitar and was formerly in a band called Pocket Bomb, Mike Prott said.
"He was a good kid," he said, "He was just a very special person."
Dylan Prott's mother, who heard the news while she was in Scotland, is coming home tomorrow, Mike Prott said.
Louisville sophomore John Absher, a resident assistant on the 20th floor of PFT, said that he was called to Prott's room because Prott was causing a disturbance. He wouldn't comment further.
Edwards said officials have heard reports that Prott was under the influence of drugs before he died. They have also received reports that Prott was naked and acting erratically in PFT before his death.
According to an official statement Western sent in a mass e-mail, a preliminary report indicates that Prott disabled a safety device designed to keep the PFT dorm window from opening more than a few inches.
Dorm safety checks are conducted on the first Tuesday of every month, and the Nov. 7 check showed that the safety bar was in place, according to the statement.
One of Western's priorities following the incident will be to make sure safety checks are being performed and reported appropriately, Edwards said. Officials believe the checks were conducted correctly.
Edwards said Western has never had a problem, as far as he knows, with students removing safety bars.
Campus police are handling the investigation.
PFT is the tallest dorm on the Hill with 27 floors. The building, which was built in 1970, has more students living in it than any other dorm. There are about 900 students assigned to live there this semester, the Herald previously reported.
Western's next step will be to attend to students and employees' emotional well-being, Edwards said. They will pay particular attention to Prott's roommate, friends and family members.
Western will provide grief counselors to anyone who requests one, according to the statement.
Donations and letters to the Dylan Prott Memorial Fund can be sent to Jamie Prott at P.O. Box 4831, Louisville, Ky., 40204.
University denies liabilty in student death
Western tries to deter drug problems
Issue date: 2/6/07
Western isn't to blame if students make the decision to experiment with drugs, officials say.
But the university has programs and disciplinary measures in place to deter drug use.
Louisville freshman Dylan Prott died in a drug-related incident on Nov. 9, which Western officials say they aren't at all responsible for.
Prott's death was ruled as an accident by the coroner.
Prott's father, Mike Prott, said he wasn't ready to say if he was planning legal action against Western over his son's death.
Prott's mother, Robin Wood, said she won't take legal action against Western.
Prott, 18, died at about midnight after reportedly jumping from his 20th-floor dorm room in Pearce-Ford Tower.
Prott's toxicology report showed that he was under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms when he died, the Herald previously reported.
An initial investigation showed that Prott took the safety bar off the window in his room and replaced it in time for safety checks, said Bob Edwards, assistant vice president of University Relations.
"I don't see a liability issue here," Edwards said.
Louisville freshman Kyle Brangers, a friend of Prott's, said Prott had never used hallucinogenic mushrooms before that night, the Herald previously reported.
Students who use drugs could face disciplinary action in dorms, said Brian Kuster, director of housing and residence life.
The disciplinary action taken depends on whether it's the student's first offense and what drug the student is caught with, Kuster said.
Students could face a meeting with their hall director, a meeting with the dean of students or expulsion, Kuster said.
A student could be arrested if police are called, said Mike Dowell, public information officer for campus police.
Students are adults, and they have the right to choose if they want to use drugs, Assistant Psychology Professor Phil Pegg said.
A person might start doing drugs if parents or people in their peer group use them, Pegg said.
Pegg said students who have goals don't tend to abuse drugs.
"A person's own ambition can deter them," he said.
Students shouldn't do drugs because they don't know if they might like it too much, Beechmont freshman Kory McDonald said.
"If you don't start, you can't go too far," he said.
The more available a drug is to students, the more likely students are to experiment, Pegg said.
Pegg said drug use doesn't become a problem until it starts to interfere with a person's ability to function.
"Experimentation is different than abuse," Pegg said.
Louisville freshman Whitney Salyer said she's had friends who have experimented with drugs, and she doesn't think less of them.
It's only a problem if it becomes a habit, she said.
Some students use drugs because they like the sensation, and others use them to take away a worse feeling, said Karl Laves, assistant director of the Counseling and Testing Center.
Laves said it's the latter group that typically comes to the counseling center.
Students who enjoy doing drugs aren't likely to come to counseling, but families and friends might intervene, he said.
He said center employees encourage students to be direct and honest, and not to judge or scold their friends.
Laves said it's important for users to know friends and families want to help with drug addiction.
Students who come to the Counseling and Testing Center don't have to worry about getting in trouble.
"We don't squeal or rat or tattle," Laves said.
--------------------
A child's rhyme stuck in my head.
It said that life is but a dream.
I've spent so many years in question
to find I've known this all along.
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