“They should really wait to participate until they’ve gained more real-world knowledge,” Moritz explained. “The kind that I got when I watched a man asphyxiate on the side of the highway. That’s when I realized I probably only need to talk once a lecture, twice during seminars.”

Adjusting his glasses, Mortiz continued, “There’s just so much these freshmen don’t understand about the world right now. They don’t have the kind of adequate preparation for a college classroom. That all changes when you see the life vanish from a man’s eyes and develop a healthy respect for the fleeting nature of human existence and the need to create space in discussion.”

“First years are so naive," said James Kornick ’16. I used to do all the readings, too. Then I witnessed a fellow man overdose on ketamine at Bonnaroo in 2013, and now I understand the value of my time.”

When pressed about his Iowa trip, Moritz said he decided not to call 911 because this man’s death was just a metaphor for his coming of age, and calling the paramedics would’ve been emblematic of some naive desire to hold on to his innocence.