Ex-Student to Talk About Dangers of DWI

Speaker Mark Sterner will be on campus Wednesday to share the story of a bad decision that ended the lives of three friends and forever changed the course of his own.

Sterner will be a guest of the University’s new Alcohol & Other Drugs Committee and their Don’t Be That Guy program.  His talk, “DUI:  A Powerful Lesson,” is at 7 p.m. in the Conference Center Auditorium.

Sterner’s life changed dramatically in 1994 when three of his best friends were killed in a drunken driving crash during spring break.

During the trip, Sterner and his friends each took a turn as the designated driver.  On their final night, they decided that the “least drunk” among them, Sterner, would drive home.  Sterner was intoxicated at the wheel of the car; he was convicted on three felony manslaughter charges and spent three years in a Florida prison.

He closes the program by showing a video that the friends were making to document their spring break and that ends minutes before the crash.

Sterner has been speaking for more than 10 years to college and high school students around the country about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Randi Mogul, a Residential Life Coordinator at UT Dallas, lobbied to bring Sterner to campus after seeing him give the talk in previous years.

“It’s always a very powerful and moving presentation,” Mogul said.

Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend.

The talk is co-sponsored by the UT Dallas Police Department, the Health Center, the Career Center, the Multicultural Center, the Counseling Center, SUAAB, Greek Life and the Living-Learning Communities.