Sorority sponsors lecture about drunken driving

One bad decision changed Mark Sterner's life forever. \nWhile on spring break with his best friends in Sanibel Island, Fla., during his senior year of college, Sterner changed the lives of countless people with one act of drunken driving.\nSterner, who was charged with the deaths of three college fraternity brothers while drunk driving in 1994, spoke to the greek community at 8 p.m. Monday in Assembly Hall.\nThe event was sponsored by the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. Sterner was introduced by AZD member junior Tracy Albertson. \nAlbertson, the AZD member in charge of organizing the event, said Sterner's message is especially unique from other greek events.\n"What struck us about hosting this speaker was that it would not just be another event on this campus, but something that really hit home," Albertson said.\nSterner began the presentation by asking the audience, "How many people here have done something stupid while they were drunk?" The audience answered with an almost unanimous response of raised hands. \nThe questions and hand-raising continued for a few minutes with others such as, "How many of you have lost someone to a drunk driving accident?" followed by scattered hands in the crowd, and "How many of you have ever driven drunk?" yielding a few reluctant hands. \nSterner finally asked, "How many of you have killed three of your best friends while drunk driving?" \nHis eyes scanned the motionless seats; he raised his hand, introduced himself and began his story.\nSterner served two years in a Florida prison after surviving the accident in which three of his brothers from Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Rhode Island were killed.\nAccompanying Sterner's narration of the events was a home video taken only 15 minutes before the accident. The video documented the students taking shots, dancing and joking, met by a few laughs and hushed comments from the audience. The end of the video included a series of still pictures of the accident scene.\n"I didn't come here tonight to preach to you. I didn't come here to tell you what to do," Sterner said. "I came here to tell you about something that happened to me and my friends. You're old enough to make your own decisions."\nThe rest of his story was told with the same humble and somber tone. He stressed his concern for the true effect of his message to drink responsibly. \n"Are you going to listen?" Sterner asked. "Are you going to remember my friends when you're out partying this weekend?"\nFreshman John Greenwald, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, was there with a group of his fraternity brothers and echoed Sterner's concern.\n"The point is to try and make the message effective in the long run, but I hope people really do remember it two years from now," Greenwald said.\nSterner said he is a strong supporter of university programs encouraging students to act responsibly while drinking. \n"Drunk driving is prominent on college campuses, and it's always encouraging when I go to a school and see that they have taken a proactive approach to dealing with drunk driving, rather than with reactive policy," he said afterward.\nSterner is part of an organization called CampusSpeak, based out of Colorado, and will give 35 speeches this spring. He began his presentations while serving his prison sentence.