3 Penn State clubs lose recognition, university says they're too risky

Penn State is disbanding three student clubs at the end of the semester because the university considers them too risky.

Penn State Outing Club, Nittany Grotto Caving Club and Nittany Divers Scuba Club are "losing recognition due to an unacceptable amount of risk to student members that is associated with their activities," university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said in an email.

This spring, Campus Recreation, a division of Student Affairs, reviewed all of its supported organizations, including 76 sport and the three outdoor recreation student orgs, she said. Changes were recommended to 20 registered student organizations, including the three disbanded.

Among the factors considered in the evaluation, Powers said, were environment and location of organization activities; access to emergency facilities and distance to medical care, risk associated with various types of impact likely in an activity; and impact the equipment used in an activity has on the risk of an activity.

For Michael Lacey, president of the 70-year-old Caving Club, the club's deactivation has been a long time coming.

"Penn State's just been clamping down really hard on the nature of activities" since the Sandusky scandal, he said.

And while he's not surprised by the decision, Lacey said it would have been nice to get real reasons — he thinks the university has provided information that doesn't make any sense.

PSOC was founded in 1920, according to its club officers, and has "rich traditions" of taking students into the wilderness. They're disappointed by the university's decision.

"What are the long-term risks of NOT spending time outside?" the PSOC officers said in an email. "We see that many of the leading causes of death in the U.S. are lifestyle diseases resulting from inactive lifestyles and poor diet. As a society it might be time to ask ourselves whether mitigating risk at every turn is actually beneficial to us in the end."

Spending extended time outside has "remarkable, positive" effects on health, both mental and physical, but it's getting more difficult for people to engage in outdoor activities due to risk and litigation concerns, the PSOC officers said.

"Many outdoor professionals will tell you that the riskiest part of a backpacking trip is getting to the trailhead," they said. "Exposure to the discomforts of spending time in the outdoors allows people to develop coping mechanisms that help them to better deal with the stresses of day-to-day life. It's sad to see the opportunities to get outside further limited by this decision even as we see a spike in mental health issues, especially among college students."

Powers said Campus Recreation and Student Activities staff are meeting with student leaders and club advisers about the transition and how the university might still support each groups' goals.

They'll work to find other appropriate ways to support the groups' activities, Powers said. For example, the university runs the Outdoor Adventures Program, which schedules trips.

There's a "big difference" between going with somebody you paid to take you on a trip and going with a bunch of your friends, Lacey said.

"It definitely loses a little bit of the adventure aspect," he said.

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 9:31 AM with the headline "3 Penn State clubs lose recognition, university says they're too risky."