book review by Hank Nuwer

Courtney's Legacy: A Father's Journey (by George Cantor), 2001. Cooper Square Press, 211 pages.

Fraternity and sorority reform has come a long way since 1990, but George Cantor's disturbing story about his daughter Courtney's horrific death at the University of Michigan teaches us that such reforms still fall deadly short when renegades walk house floors. The book goes on a narrow shelf of books qualifying as mandatory reading for parents sending students to college for the first time. It also belongs in every Greek house as a cautionary tale for brothers and sisters who regard their houses as shrines, not just another roadhouse to drink in.

When I lectured on hazing and binge drinking to the Greeks at the University of Michigan not long ago, the audience and I reflected on the lives of students killed in hazings, roof falls, alcohol overdoses, and the sad like. The last name on the list was Courtney Cantor, and I had no category to put her. Whether I talked at the University of Oregon or tiny Coe College, in my private chats with Greeks and campus officials it was always the same: rumors flying about how Courtney might have died. Since she went out a UM residence hall window with only a small amount of alcohol in her system, the rumors of what caused her death were flying: a suicide, a GHB overdose, a joke gone wrong. The fact is, nobody knew, least of all I. So I said that at UM, and the students, (They were to a person respectful of her memory and honor) and I lit a candle in her memory without citing any cause of death. The evening, like Courtney's life, ended there.
As an author, I get a certain number of books from publishers looking for blurbs to go on book jackets. It's something I don't usually like to ask for or to do, but it seems to be part of the business.

But I wanted to read this story to get some answers in "the Cantor case" as it has come to be known in Greek circles, and so I started reading within ten seconds of opening the publisher's envelope. And stopped only for water breaks until I read every word.

The bottom line is that Courtney Cantor was a Chi Omega pledge and proud of it. She was dismayed that so many lovely female friends of hers failed to make it into the Greek selection system (as am I, the only reason for exclusion from SOME chapter somewhere being character flaws or substance abuse to my way of thinking). She seemed to have made a good choice, since Chi O strictly outlawed alcohol, and then she went to a Phi Delta Theta party with her sisters and fellow pledges, and that too seemed a good choice. Phi Delt's national had embraced the dry house movement following the awful death of Chad Saucier in a Phi Delt big-and-little brother bottle exchange years earlier.

The bottom line was that Courtney, like Chad, was a great kid-not perfect but the kind a lot of people wanted for a lifelong friend. She was a-well, a pisser, her father says. She wanted the best things in life, and she maneuvered to get her way-whether it be choice of dorms, a roommate, a sorority.

But after obtaining the results of an autopsy, showing she had elevated GHB levels that quite possibly came from someone slipping a drug into her drink, Cantor suddenly had some answers. Why did his conservative daughter, according to friends, inexplicably hang all over some guy while dancing, why was she raucous when she returned to her residence hall room, and why did she open a window as if desperately gulping for air?

You all know the rest. How a passerby found her in thin night clothes on campus pavement. How the university punished the students. How the national Phi Delt chapter drummed one of its oldest chapters out of existence.

What you don't know is what it feels like to lose a daughter. What a journalist like Cantor feels when news people, most anyway, interviewed him and got it all wrong, looking for quick-fix answers and too easy categories to pigeonhole his daughter's death. There also is a thoughtful chapter by Cantor's wife, Courtney's mother, though as a reader I wish this would have been done in some way so as not to break the tension caused by George's distinctive voice on paper. He's a columnist, and his prose is clipped and sometimes stinging. Yet, overall it works. He knows how to hold a reader with one little story right after another, and his observations made me think.

--He discusses reasons for delayed rush.

--He doubts the sincerity of those of us in education when we say we want to keep the children entrusted to us safe. (This was especially distressing to read since I've always considered the Michigan Greek system fast to take action when misbehavior occurs).

--He shows his hackles when he describes Courtney's living conditions-neither aesthetically pleasing nor, ultimately, safe, in his opinion, in spite of UM's high tuition.

But mostly, and there's as much sadness here as rancor, he wonders where were the other pledges and sisters when banned alcohol was served these 18 year olds. Where were they with warnings to leave alone any beverage, even a soda, you didn't pour yourself? Where were the gentlemen among the Phi Delts who understood that you as a host have a duty to protect your guests, especially vulnerable eighteen-year-olds, your fraternity's reputation, and your university's honor?

I haven't mentioned Cantor's philosophy on the loss of a daughter, his struggle to keep his marriage together after the loss of a child, or the loving relationship he had with Courtney, and why she was so damned special. But it's here. I urge you to read the book and do some maneuvering of your own to get it into public libraries.

Sidebar: A Letter from a Phi Delt Alum

The review of "Courtney's Legacy" drew several e-mail responses, including several from an older Phi Delta Theta alumnus that here are included in abbreviated format for space considerations.

I think it is important for all sides to be heard so that the public can make informed conclusions. The letter below, contrasted with the book written by Courtney's father, shows how complex the issues are when a student dies under circumstances not entirely known at the time of death. I thank all who have written and for the respect shown as you disagree with me: --Hank Nuwer

To Hank Nuwer: I commend your efforts to eliminate hazing in all its forms. That is a valuable and needed service in our society. Thank you!

I read your review of the soon to be released book on Courtney Cantor's tragic fall from Markley Hall and I am concerned about its accuracy. I believe care needs to be exercised in seeking who to blame for this terrible accident. At the same time, I am extremely concerned about behavior in the Greek system at Michigan, and across the country.

As is often the case in these terrible situations the blame seems to land squarely on the fraternity and the fraternal organization. Yet, it is most frequently the actions of individuals that create the tragic events this book reveals. What assumptions are we making that might not be fair to all the victims in this situation? What decisions and actions taken by the victim led to this tragedy? Why do we focus so much of the energy of blame on the fraternity chapter, when so many other stakeholders are involved? Perhaps most frustrating is why is it so challenging for the kids in these incidents to commit to a safer lifestyle?

Your review squarely blames someone at the fraternity for her drinking and for slipping her GHB. There are other possibilities. It is rumored;
1) that the drinking by the girls that night did not start at the fraternity, and
2) that GHB has a version called lemon drops, which girls take to minimize their alcohol intake, reducing calories while still getting the effect of drunkenness.

I do not mean to convey that the young men and women in this situation did not make mistakes. They did and they will have to live with them. This event is terrible enough though, without assumptions, hyperbole and mistruths that slander the fraternity and the young people involved. It appears to me that Phi Delta Theta is aggressively leading the facing of the issues in the Greek system at a time when many other fraternities are burying their heads. Misinformation could impede the effectiveness of their leadership and the quick progress that is needed.

With all due respect, and an admiration for your contribution, I felt that your review was absent an objectivity and a sensitivity that should be present in journalism with troubling issues like these. It made convenient assumptions, that the fraternity is to blame, that a young man slipped her GHB, that her drinking was the fraternity's fault.

I am a parent of teenagers. My experience over the past couple years showed me that as parents we are naive about what our kids are doing, particularly with respect to drinking. I love my kids dearly, but they are not always perfect. Even when they aren't I will defend them heroically.

I respect the need to be hard on kids, pardon me, sorority and fraternity members, that violate the policies and values of their organization. In fact, my feeling is that violators should be quickly dismissed from their chapters. So, I agree on that point. And that is exactly what happened in the fraternity chapter we are discussing. I think, as educators and parents, police forces and fire departments we need to draw a hard line and be willing to enforce it. We also need to find student leaders that are willing to enforce those values and policies.

I agree with you that renegades are walking the floors of these chapters. They must be rooted out and the members that commit to and practice the traditional values must see the rewards of that commitment.

(Letter signed but name withheld by request of writer)