Persuasive Paper - Final

Briggs Carhart

Dr. Stephanie Brown, PhD

ENGL 306

9 December 2016

Published in: The DailyWildcat

Dear Wild Coronado Residents,

            Majority of you partake in contemptible activities almost every other night – both inside and outside the residence halls. You believe this is an acceptable lifestyle. However, this habit of losing self-control to try to live the stereotypical Coronado lifestyle exemplifies of insanity. Drinking to the point you lose the ability to form memories, trying out hard drugs one-by-one off a palette presented to you by a random stranger, and believing you are invincible are mere examples of this lifestyle that risk almost every form of your well-being. You and the other partygoers of Coronado need to understand that your choices can and will impact your life, and you need to also understand the choices you are currently making are not helping you for the better if your goal is to live a successful life – possibly even live at all.

            This year would be my second year as a Coronado Resident Assistant. My position has given me the opportunity to help you all succeed in your future lives; however, based on the actions you make/made, my goal has shifted to just making sure you mature into decent human beings with some form of common sense. Having the intention of blacking out every other night and calling that a success is ludicrous. There is not a chance for you to remember a moment from your drunken evening to make the claim it was great and a success. Alcohol dehydrates the cells in your brain to the point that don’t work in memory consolidation. (McIntosh and Chick). If you black out, you will not remember anything after that point. There isn’t a purpose in you going out just to get drunk to the point you can’t remember anything. You risk severe alcohol poisoning and obtaining a Minor in Possession (MIP) citation from the police. We obtain a roster with your ages on it and Coronado is 98.12% below the age of 21. We (the RAs) know this and UAPD knows this. As explained by Nurse Spencer from The Buzz, police are less likely to stop you when you are walking just at the buzz than when you are being dragged by your friends (Gorin). It should be in your best interest not drink as much and to instead study for tests, complete assigned homework tasks, etc.

            Alcohol isn’t the only problem I have witnessed in Coronado. I’ve also seen residents in handcuffs for dealing cocaine. I’ve seen residents hospitalized for overdosing on drugs. I’ve seen residents have suicide ideations over receiving multiple MIPs in one evening, I’ve seen residents attempt suicide because they slept with a stranger. I’ve seen residents punch each other in the face over “not hanging out enough.” I’ve seen residents become victims of burglary and vandalism for refusing to lock their door. I’ve seen residents get brought out in handcuffs for manufacturing marijuana wax. I’ve seen residents accuse other residents of sexual harassment and rape and which the accused are immediately evicted and banned from the property.  I witnessed a Coronado resident be injected with norepinephrine because her heart stopped after drinking too much alcohol.

            I am aware you probably weren’t involved in every single incident listed above. There was only one notable ex-resident who was involved in each incident in one single night. He waltzed into Coronado will the dream of obtaining a business degree and be a distinguished member of his fraternity. He is now in rehab because of a court order.  

            From the list, above, I am also aware there are some incidents where you have no choice or blame in the matter. My job is to not assign blame. My job is to educate. That means I am to tell you that if there is a possibility your choice will put you at risk of harm or danger, don’t do it. If you are aware excessive drinking is illegal and dangerous, don’t do it. If you are aware of potential hazing involved in a certain organization, stay away. If failing a class will make you lose your scholarship, go study. I want you to value your future opportunities and health more than a competition to figure out which suitemate can consume the most shots before puking. The latter can potentially lead to you being sent to the hospital to get your stomach pumped.

            These sorts of incidents occur more than you would think. If you instigate one of these incidents, and every resident does the same, that is 752 incident reports needing to be filed. I have filed 108. Please understand, however, that I am not complaining about my job. I don’t believe my job is too hard to handle. I also don’t think I am a reasonable RA that just documents what is necessary and crucial for my community directors to know.

            If I need to be involved in an incident, I will. If I need to hold your hand every single night after a sexual assault, hazing incident, suicide ideation, etc. I will be there. I will always be there. I just want you to understand what you are doing to yourself if you choose to go out and party and wake up the next day in a ditch in the middle of the desert.

            The ultimate purpose of college is to receive an education. If you are purposefully blocking that education with drugs and alcohol, I cannot help you at that point. I wish I could, but I can’t. Investing thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to waste it all on trying to live to the reputation of a dorm is idiotic. Partying could be fun and you want to hang out with your friends without seeming “prudish”. It could be relaxing. It could be quality social time with friends to form great memories (if you are biologically capable to do so). There is always the chance you can party every night and do fine in school. I’m just telling you that, through my experiences, I have seen a horrible trend that residents fall for. It’s just my duty to let you know.

Sincerely,

Coronado RA on Duty

Conclusion: I think I go beyond just summarizing for the conclusion in a persuasive takeaway model. I try to find other motivations to link with the audience of Coronado residents in order to have them understand further what I am trying to say. I also bring about their objections in the conclusion to give them the impression I am not a monster. If they read through the whole paper, then hopefully they learned something.

Works Cited

Gorin, Spencer. “The Buzz: Alcohol Education Program.” University of Arizona Campus Health. 2010.

McIntosh, C., and J. Chick. "Alcohol and the nervous system." Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 75. suppl 3 (2004): iii16-iii21.

Word Count: 1021

Explication:

            My open letter is very clear and concise when it comes to nominalizations. The ones that exist I believe are fine, but I know I must be simple and pedestrian in my diction because my audience is only ranging between 16-18 with little writing/English experience (most of my residents don’t pass ENGL 101). I wanted it to be clear to them (if they were reading this) that most consequences are linked with choices. I tried to connect my sentences well. I know I implemented  a lot of parallelism so hopefully that adds to the legibility of the paper.

            In terms of ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos, my letter is effective. For logos, I used data presented at programs and scientific reviews. For ethos, I acknowledged I am an RA in the building of Coronado to make sure I am a credible person who actually has experienced the incidents I mentioned. I also acknowledged the benefits of some party habits to make them understand that I am not a monster. It is very hard to get residents to understand where you are coming from if you don’t come at it from both sides (this might be for any persuasive argument too). For pathos, I mentioned dangerous incidents that occurred that threatened the lives of residents to shock my audience to understand that these behaviors are potentially lethal. I don’t want them to glaze over my points. I want them to understand their actions can lead to dangerous harm. As for kairos, there is no better time to have residents learn these things then right before break. My audience is prone to be the victim of peer pressure so reflecting on these things and then going home could be beneficial for the effect.

            My goal of this letter is to at least have them understand what RAs go through and maybe have them moderate their behavior. Coronado residents are mostly stubborn and don’t respond well to lecturing. They can comprehend things, but they just don’t care enough. So having my goal actually be less extreme than what it seems to be in the letter may be a good thing. I won’t be as disappointed.

            My letter isn’t threatening to them. I’m not giving them an ultimatum. I am not offering my job if they don’t listen to my requests to understand their actions and reasoning behind those actions. (They might actually want me gone depending if I wrote them up or not). It’s a letter with just facts. It’s legal (I don’t reference names and I’m not threatening). It’s legible and hopefully representative of my staff’s view. I’m not sure my paper focuses on the communal portion of protest, but I am aiming my letter to be effective.

            Secondary audience: there is also a secondary audience to my paper (which is UA Dean of Students and Residence Life). Coronado has a lot of incidents and it’s infamous for that. With this sort of trajectory, I was hoping to see more effort into bettering the student population of Coronado. I haven’t seen much outreach or anything from the school so hopefully this letter will pressure them to do something.

            I think I am only initiating the protest. I don’t know if I want to carry through. I have the passion (maybe) but I don’t have the time. This isn’t traditional for other protests. There is traditionally follow-through. But I left my artifact, and now I am done.