Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Alex Turco Adam Ritz, a Purdue University graduate, speaks to members of the fraternity system about the importance of making good decisions Wednesday night. IFC sponsored the talk.

The most powerful story Adam Ritz told Wednesday night was his own.

Ritz, Wednesday night's Interfraternity Council Speaker, began the evening behind a podium but made his way into the crowd as he talked about alcohol, risk management and his own life.

Ritz - who went to Purdue University, used to be a disc jockey and now operates Catch TV - selected random men in the audience to read vignettes revolving around decisions made while using alcohol.

"He took a few shots at the guys," said junior Culley Pearson, president of the Interfraternity Council. "Some might have been a little much, but I thought it was all in good fun."

The last story read aloud told the case of a boy who had too much to drink and raped a young woman.

After Ritz returned to the stage, Ritz confessed it was a true story about himself.

"You could hear a pin drop," Pearson said. "It went from joking around to complete silence."

Ritz had been blackout drunk after "returning from a bar or nightclub" when his wife was out of town. He then attempted to rape his children's babysitter when he was 33 - five years ago. Ritz was arrested, went to jail for six months and lost his job, family and home.

"One bad decision can affect the rest of your life," Ritz said.

Freshman Kyle Shockey had a mixed reaction to the speech.

"Although the nature of the speaker was very serious, it was hard to take him seriously at first because of the way he started out," Shockey said. "The beginning didn't seem to connect very well to the end. Other than that, I think he was very funny and connected with the guys who were there."

Pearson also thought Ritz did a good job.

"He was more with it than other similar speakers we've had," he said.

Ritz acknowledged the fact that he alone cannot stop men from partying, but he cautioned the audience to "help friends" and "look out for them."

He also had a clear "take-home" message for those in attendance: "Think when you drink. Decision making can affect the rest of your life."

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