Author Topic: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.  (Read 1536 times)

just Warren

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Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« on: April 22, 2018, 08:24:38 PM »
They would be out of cell phone range you see.

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The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage.

These safety idiots are everywhere and it's all tied to progressivism. The whole idea is that people cannot make their own choices and need experts to shepherd them through life.   

This is why, despite my biases, I'm not interested in pushing libertarianism right now and instead want to get the conservative/right back to actually fighting the menace that is leftism. The libertarians just don't, and may never, have the numbers to beat the left. But the right does, only it can't be bothered just now.  May after a nap and some juice from the sippy cup.

Still for however insulting I am of them the right has more short to medium term political upside and can bring more resources to the fight than can libertarians. 

That was a bit of a rant, I do feel a bit better. I don't normally do that but there is something about this particular story that set me off.
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zxcvbob

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2018, 08:59:59 PM »
They would be out of cell phone range you see.

These safety idiots are everywhere and it's all tied to progressivism. The whole idea is that people cannot make their own choices and need experts to shepherd them through life.  

This is why, despite my biases, I'm not interested in pushing libertarianism right now and instead want to get the conservative/right back to actually fighting the menace that is leftism. The libertarians just don't, and may never, have the numbers to beat the left. But the right does, only it can't be bothered just now.  May after a nap and some juice from the sippy cup.

Still for however insulting I am of them the right has more short to medium term political upside and can bring more resources to the fight than can libertarians.  

That was a bit of a rant, I do feel a bit better. I don't normally do that but there is something about this particular story that set me off.

A few years ago IBM (there, I said it) cancelled the employees' target pistol club because it was dangerous.  The club was IIRC over 40 years old and had *never* had an accident; it was the only IBM Club event with a perfect record.  It was demonstrably safer than the chess club.

(The club kept going without company sponsorship; we joined-up with the facility where we were meeting.)
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2018, 09:12:25 PM »
This cannot be real.
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dm1333

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2018, 09:52:34 PM »
I thought being out of cell coverage was a benefit of backpacking, not a drawback.

RoadKingLarry

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2018, 10:35:53 PM »
The lunatics are in fact, running the asylum.
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KD5NRH

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2018, 01:35:50 AM »
I thought being out of cell coverage was a benefit of backpacking, not a drawback.

Exactly; just like running my phone battery dead with Strava on a long ride.

sumpnz

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2018, 10:03:47 AM »
So, have someone in the group carry a Garmin InReach.  Or a SPOT.  Maybe someone who knows smoke signals. 

T.O.M.

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2018, 11:13:44 AM »
http://sites.psu.edu/outingclub/

This is the club's site, with the announcement that the university is shutting it down.  Reading this announcement, it appears to me that the lawyers are to blame.  Looks like someone saw the activities (canoeing, hiking, etc.) and decided that the liability to the school was too great, and shut it down.  The lack of cell phone coverage may have been something considered when they made the decision, but this looks very much like a risk management lawyer looked at the risks of injury to the members, and decided that risk and the resulting expense of being sued, and recommended to the university to reduce that risk by shutting the club down. 
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makattak

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2018, 11:23:03 AM »
http://sites.psu.edu/outingclub/

This is the club's site, with the announcement that the university is shutting it down.  Reading this announcement, it appears to me that the lawyers are to blame.  Looks like someone saw the activities (canoeing, hiking, etc.) and decided that the liability to the school was too great, and shut it down.  The lack of cell phone coverage may have been something considered when they made the decision, but this looks very much like a risk management lawyer looked at the risks of injury to the members, and decided that risk and the resulting expense of being sued, and recommended to the university to reduce that risk by shutting the club down. 

As with all of the nerfing of today's society, the lawyers are at the root. (Somehow I typed "rot" at first, and that's appropriate, too.)
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dogmush

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2018, 11:41:48 AM »
http://sites.psu.edu/outingclub/

This is the club's site, with the announcement that the university is shutting it down.  Reading this announcement, it appears to me that the lawyers are to blame.  Looks like someone saw the activities (canoeing, hiking, etc.) and decided that the liability to the school was too great, and shut it down.  The lack of cell phone coverage may have been something considered when they made the decision, but this looks very much like a risk management lawyer looked at the risks of injury to the members, and decided that risk and the resulting expense of being sued, and recommended to the university to reduce that risk by shutting the club down. 

I would think that the risk of a lawsuit inducing event has been proven to be higher with Penn State's Football Program than their Outing Club.  Yet one has been closed, and the other has not.

TechMan

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2018, 11:58:14 AM »
The lunatics are in fact, running the asylum.

Lunatics??  Try *expletive deleted*wits.
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MillCreek

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2018, 12:59:06 PM »
http://sites.psu.edu/outingclub/

This is the club's site, with the announcement that the university is shutting it down.  Reading this announcement, it appears to me that the lawyers are to blame.  Looks like someone saw the activities (canoeing, hiking, etc.) and decided that the liability to the school was too great, and shut it down.  The lack of cell phone coverage may have been something considered when they made the decision, but this looks very much like a risk management lawyer looked at the risks of injury to the members, and decided that risk and the resulting expense of being sued, and recommended to the university to reduce that risk by shutting the club down. 

I have not looked into Pennsylvania law, but this risk manager's first thought is to wonder about having all participants sign an activity liability waiver and thus the club can continue.  However, there are many states in which such waivers are not worth the paper they are printed on and they do not stand up in court.
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Quote from: Angel Eyes on August 09, 2018, 01:56:15 AM
You are one lousy risk manager.

KD5NRH

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2018, 03:49:48 PM »
Looks like someone saw the activities (canoeing, hiking, etc.) and decided that the liability to the school was too great, and shut it down.

I'd really like to see a comparison between injuries suffered in Outing Club vs injuries suffered in football, basketball, etc.

just Warren

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2018, 04:17:40 PM »
Just being near Jerry Sandusky likely caused more injuries than the Outing Club ever suffered.
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T.O.M.

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2018, 02:21:53 PM »
I would think that the risk of a lawsuit inducing event has been proven to be higher with Penn State's Football Program than their Outing Club.  Yet one has been closed, and the other has not.

Wanna bet which one brings in millions of dollars in revenue and donations to the University?

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HankB

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #15 on: April 24, 2018, 05:03:54 PM »
Maybe the Outing Club will get itself a new charter - just so they don't have to change their name, they can try something along the lines of shining a light on closet homosexuals . . .
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2018, 06:40:36 PM »
Maybe the Outing Club will get itself a new charter - just so they don't have to change their name, they can try something along the lines of shining a light on closet homosexuals . . .


They could go to gun stores and churches, to mingle with Trump supporters. All of the adventure and danger (they could get micro-aggressed!!), but they can stay within cell range.
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KD5NRH

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #17 on: April 30, 2018, 08:22:17 PM »
And now it sounds like UT is trying to one-up Penn State on the stupidity scale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zANDM0hO-qc

zxcvbob

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Re: Outing Club no longer allowed to visit the great outdoors.
« Reply #18 on: April 30, 2018, 08:41:01 PM »
And now it sounds like UT is trying to one-up Penn State on the stupidity scale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zANDM0hO-qc

Any Aggie could have told you UT is a bunch of pussies.
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