HARDESTY'S REACTION TO STUDENT'S DEATH WAS DEEP SADNESS

WVU President: -- 'There's A Startling Realization That The Drug Culture Is
A Part Of America'

WVU President David Hardesty said his first reaction when he heard what
caused the death of 22-year-old WVU student Gabriel Friedberg -- an
apparent heroin overdose -- was deep sadness.

"We're parents of children Gabe's age. My son knew Gabriel," he said. "We
know his parents (WVU law professor James Friedberg and former city
councilwoman Helen Friedberg), and we know they are good parents, and we
knew that he was a good young man."

Hardesty said any news of a young person dying causes a feeling of sadness.
But in Gabriel Friedberg's case, there was something more.

"There's a startling realization that the drug culture is part of America,"
he said. "It's especially challenging when dealing with young people."

Hardesty said he realizes that students are at an experimental age. He also
realizes that people prey on them because of it.

"There are programs and policies and laws that we seek to enforce and we
have probably the strictest mandatory sentences in the world, and yet there
is a market out there which does nothing but thrive on people's weaknesses
and suffering," he said.

Hardesty realizes, too, that he is not alone in dealing with these kinds of
tragedies.

"I think all college presidents are cognizant of the challenges," he said.
"We've tried hard to do what we can, and when you hear about an incident
like this it causes us to want to do more."

Mary Collins -- who is active in the university's Student Life program --
said that WVU officials and faculty cannot prevent every student from
dabbling in drugs, but they do their best to educate students about the
dangers.

"We try very, very hard to try to let our students know the dangers of
substance abuse," she said. "We start as early as orientation."

A member of WVU's Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Collins said she and
other members work hard to include members of the community as well as law
enforcement and students.

Morgantown Police Chief Robert Lucci is an ad hoc member of the council,
she said.

"We want to work together as a community, as a whole, to combat the drug
problem," she said. Members even go beyond the college level, counseling in
area high schools.

"We offer peer education and parent education, how to talk to their kids,
how to notice the signs of drug abuse," she said. "It's something we know
we can never let up on."

Bringing the students in on discussions about drug use is key, Collins noted.

"They're the ones out there living this life," she said. "They're the ones
that know what's going on out there."

For example, she said, a graduate student member of the council is working
on an ad campaign to discourage alcohol and drug use among students.

"And we continue to educate ourselves as well as the public," Collins said.
"We attend conferences to learn about the latest ideas and advances in
education about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. We make sure the
people have access to the best resources and education we can. This problem
exists -- not only in a university society, but in our environment."