It’s been nearly three weeks since the death of Mesa student Luis Felipe Watson dos Santos, who was stabbed to death in morning hours of Oct. 4. Santos marks the third Mesa student in two years to be killed near San Diego State University and it’s about time that Mesa students and young adults in general start using some common sense when it comes to the way they take care of themselves and their futures.

Santos is one of three Mesa students that have been killed recently around SDSU. The first was 19-year-old Whitney Young, who was killed in a hit-and-run by drunk driver Eric Leeman in an SDSU parking lot. She died of trauma to the head in November 2006.

The second occurred on Feb. 24 of this year, when Kurt Baker was found unconscious at the Sigma Pi frat house. He was later declared dead at Alvarado Hospital. The cause of death was an overdose of a mixture of alcohol and other drugs.

There are many common trends in these events. Yes, each of these deaths have been of Mesa students and yes, all of these deaths occurred on the campus of San Diego State. But there is one commonality seems more prevalent than the others–alcohol.

Alcohol has been present in two of the three Mesa student deaths. Young was hit by a drunk driver. Baker died of an alcohol overdose. Santos was leaving a party with his friends at 2 a.m. and it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume there was alcohol involved.

San Diego State has historically been known as a party school. In 2006, Playboy magazine ranked SDSU the fifth largest party school in the nation. In 1987, Playboy ranked State at 3. This isn’t to say Playboy’s rankings hold much validity. However, it seems to be more than a coincidence that San Diego State has been ranked so high for the last two decades.

Starting Aug 25, San Diego State held a five-week ban on parties serving alcohol as a result of Operation Sudden Fall, where 33 SDSU students were arrested in a massive sting operation for drugs and narcotics.

The point here is that San Diego State has obviously developed a tradition of partying and alcohol consumption. The three deaths of Mesa college students may have been simple cases of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and this is completely true.

Whether it be Mesa or SDSU students, or people in general, partying around SDSU at 2 a.m. might not be the best idea. Partying anywhere at 2 a.m. probably isn’t the best idea, especially when alcohol is involved. It always creates a potentially dangerous situation.

Partying is a part of not just SDSU culture but college culture in general. There is no real denying this. Partying is almost an expectation for college students. But these students need a find a way to balance their need to party with their natural sense of self-preservation.

This maybe difficult considering alcohol is probably involved, but this is why partying all night and every morning is just playing odds with your life. It’s only a matter of time before partying becomes a game of Russian Roulette.

Deaths of Mesa students on San Diego State campus seems to be becoming a pattern, but in all reality, Mesa students and San Diego State are merely coincidences. The developing pattern is one that has been around for decades, the gradually fading line between expectations and dangers when it comes to partying and alcohol.