Penn State says wilderness is too risky for outdoors clubs

[cmoulder]

I suppose it would be too much to expect for the club to just break ties with the university.

Yes. One must be part of an officially sanctioned, organized group to go backpacking. Who doesn't know this, for Pete's sake??

//sarcasm, if it isn't bloody obvious//

It's ironic that I recently hiked the Allegheny Front Trail with some friends and really enjoyed it. PSOC was one of the organizations that helped develop it.

[LittleTim]

I wonder if there was some incident or injury that cost the school money precipitating this rationale and subsequent decision.

Its not just Penn State, I have a friend that was attempting to arrange a powerlifting meet as a staff member at a prominent university in NY. After getting clearances for meetings, building space, parking, etc, he had to submit a risk assessment to the safety and security team where all his previous work was then shot down.

Then in the past two years all the departments had to compile exhaustive risk assessment plans, security protocols, emergency plans, etc. Each plan probably took about 60 man hours to assemble, then same had to happen for all extra cirricular clubs. I'm guessing that PSU just crossed that bridge with the outdoor club and had to make an official judgment on the riskiness of hiking and said 'no.'

Makes for a good headline though.

[cmoulder]

Makes for a good headline though.

Umm, it isn't just a headline if the policy puts the kibosh on the actual activity they've been involved in for nearly 100 years.

[perdidochas]

I wonder if there was some incident or injury that cost the school money precipitating this rationale and subsequent decision.

Not in any story I've read about them.

[nsherry61]

Alas, we are a litigious society, and with law suit rewards big enough to drive even significant sized corporations out of business, over-caution is prudent when trying to avoid liability. Sadly, business prudence most often does not line up well with the wishes, desires, and freedoms of adventurous people.

[DaveOTN]

Outing club is NOT disbanding. Update posted to
http://sites.psu.edu/outingclub/

Per the Outing Club's recent announcement posted above, they've been complaining about the University's mention of "alcohol related abuses" in some of the press about this too. There are no such instances documented, no injuries, just a legal assessment. And it's awfully suspicious, of course, that the official University-sponsored, staff-led trips (which presumably make some money for the college) are being kept on but the student-led ones get the ax.

I can only assume that they made the decision to stay as as a "club that can't go outside" as a pretext for getting like-minded people together to arrange unofficial trips (which of course will probably end up being less safe, but nicely "unaffiliated").

[DrL]

It looks like they jumped through all the hoops and still got shut down due to someone's intuition. I've seen this happen more and more often. Someone is put in change of risk management, safety, etc. They're typically the overly cautious type. The sort that watches the big media news outlets and then loses sleep over one-in-a-million or one-in-a-billion events. Their job (IMO) is to make sure that people complete tasks, projects, or activities safety. That participants take necessary precautions. But instead they act as an insurmountable roadblock. The only way to do something safely is to NOT do it. Move on to something more pedestrian. Watch a movie. Go shopping. Pitch your tent on the lawn of Old Main...

[Roll Tide]

Back when I was a student at the University of Alabama they offered a Backpacking class which was a PE course. I remember 5 or 6 of us getting in the back of our professor's pickup truck and heading out to Talladega National Forest and letting us out 1 at a time at various locations to find our was back to a designated pickup point. All we had was our backpack and tent, a compass and a map. This was Friday afternoon and we were picked up Sunday afternoon. I'm guessing that would not happen today!

[Cosmo]

Here’s a joke (with a grain of truth) disclaimer that made its way around the AT management community a while ago:

Notice to All Trail Users†
The Appalachian Trail is a dangerous place. There are poisonous snakes, bees, bears, unpredictable weather, hazard trees, rocks, roots, bumps and humps in the Trail, thieves, murderers, drunks, vagabonds, areas that are slippery when wet, areas that will make you wet, areas that are always wet, bridges, rivers and streams without bridges, hunters with guns, hikers with guns, drop-offs, jump-ups, unmarked road crossings, unoccupied structures, untested and possibly contaminated water supplies, lightning, and many, many other situations that may cause death or permanent disability.
You may become hypothermic, or hyperthermic, or contract any number of diseases; you may suffer a heart attack, heat stroke, or heat exhaustion, carpel tunnel syndrome and sore knees; or you may die of thirst.
However, the Trail is, according to available statistics, safer than virtually every community in America.
Sojourn at your own risk,
and by your own, unaided efforts.

The world can be a dangerous place, so let’s never go there (especially if we might be liable).Cosmo