In one of the most head-scratching pieces of news you’re likely to see all week, Penn State University banned their Outing Club from going outdoors.
If the 98-year-old club is unable to go outside, then it doesn’t seem like it has much of a purpose anymore. How exactly is the club supposed to live up to its mission and “experience the outdoors in every possible capacity” if they can’t even go outside?
The university deemed their was too much risk and is apparently planning to change the structure of the club.
“The groups are being disbanded in their current high-risk model and are actually being re-organized to provide more oversight of activities by trained and professional staff,” said PSU spokesperson, Lisa Powers.
“Safety is a legitimate concern, but it wasn’t an open dialogue,” Richard Waltz, the Outing Club’s 2017-2018 president said. “What’s happening to the club is a shame and negatively impacts the student experience.”
The whole point of the outdoors is that it comes with risk. Going out into the unknown is never 100% safe, but that’s what makes it worth doing.
In the end, this probably just means students with a love of the outdoors at Penn State will still take trips, they’ll just be less open about letting people know, which could actually be dangerous.
