UMass Dartmouth Flies Flag at Half-Mast to Honor Overdose Victim [VIDEO]

Over the weekend, a 20-year-old UMass Dartmouth student passed away in his dorm room after apparently overdosing on suspected heroin. A tragic circumstance that shouldn't have taken place. Drugs have no room on any college campus in the United States.

In response to this tragedy, the UMass Dartmouth system is establishing a few more measures they hope will curb any drug abuse on the campus. In addition to these announcements, the school will lower the University flag to half-mast in memory of the deceased student, Colin Gear.

While my sympathy lies with the family and friends of this young man, I'm not a fan of the University's action. As many callers pointed out to me, an honor like a flag-lowering is typically reserved for public servants or members of the Armed Forces that have passed on in the line of duty. While they're not lowering the U.S. flag (as far as we know), they are honoring the memory of a student who inadvertently took his own life.

What message does this send out? That those who do harm unto themselves will be memorialized? I thought that's what funerals were for. While the loss of a member of the student community is sad, are we all supposed to bow our heads in tribute to somebody who made a life-ending mistake?

This, to me, trivializes any such tragedy that takes place on campus. If a student is killed in a car accident, dies of a sudden illness, or is prematurely taken away from us due to circumstances beyond their control, they will be dragged down to the same level of honor that some drug user was given.

That's not fair to the students, it's not fair to the community, and it makes a mockery of what it means to be a model student at UMass Dartmouth. It seems that no matter how badly you screw up at UMassD, you can do no wrong.