H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 22°, L 6°My brother ran away when he was seven years old because my parents would not buy him Nintendo 64. They found him at his friend’s house (a friend who had N64, of course) and promptly punished him for making them worry. He learned his lesson and hasn’t disappeared without warning since then.
It seems some children did not learn this lesson. Last Thursday, Andrew T. Morgan, a part-time University of Minnesota student returned to his home after he was missing for more than a week. Police, volunteers, family and friends, who had been searching for Morgan for days, were at his North Minneapolis home upon his return.
Morgan was reported missing by his parents Tuesday after his roommates called to inform them their son had not been home and had not reported to work or class for days.
His parents filed a missing person report before going to Minnesota to search for him.
Morgan said he drove to Wisconsin and stayed in hotels for a few days to work out “personal matters” before returning home last Thursday.
According to the Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper, Morgan was shocked by the attention his disappearance received.
Hmmm. This all sounds a bit familiar.
Apparently, Morgan was in a cave when our very own Audrey Seiler went missing and a manhunt involving hundreds of police officers and the FBI ensued. Seiler’s disappearance, which included a staged abduction and cost the city thousands of dollars, garnered attention from media across the country last spring. The attention, many concluded, was part of the reason Seiler ran away, although she probably did not realize the magnitude of her actions.
Attention seems to be the cause for Morgan’s disappearance as well. Running away for more than a week without letting anyone know where you are and you don’t think people are going to become worried? Give me a break.
Both Morgan and Seiler blamed their antics on stress due to school and life, stress, that at one point or another, everyone faces. The difference is not everyone is as selfish when coping with his or her problems.
These two cases obviously involve individuals who are unstable and stressed out beyond belief but their actions were immature and costly and there are other more effective ways of coping with stress and other problems.
Every college student is stressed out at some point, but not everyone runs away like my seven-year-old brother did. Go get a massage. Go for a run. But don’t make the FBI come to Madison and search for a non-existent abductor and make everyone in the country worry.
All it takes is a phone call or a visit to University Health Services and a much more effective solution to the problems a person in distress is facing will be reached. The actions of these two individuals not only takes away from other investigations police could be pursuing, but also takes away from the validity of a person who truly is missing.
Next time a person who is stressed out is thinking about running away, think about someone besides yourself, get help and get better, but don’t put the entire country on alert.
Joanna Salmen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and Spanish.
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Seiler staged an abduction. If a guy wants to just get away from it all, he shouldn’t have to call his mommy for permission. Perhaps he felt too many people were trying to tell him his business and wanted some time alone to think for himself? Granted, he could have said “I’m leaving for awhile, don’t worry about it” to a roommate - but why should we judge him for not? Perhaps those very roommates were part of the problem. A paranoid public and media ready to exploit any suffering should be blamed for the uproar over his vacation.
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“Every college student is stressed out at some point, but not everyone runs away like my seven-year-old brother did.”
It’s two friggin’ people!!! You wrote an entire article calling out TWO FRIGGIN PEOPLE!!!
On top of that…..nobody is arguing that this is not excessive behavior…..but it’s not fair for you to try to make stress universal…..some people have a lot more stress in their lives and people react to stress differently. A “run” or a “massage” doesn’t make some peoples stress go away.
As for your speculations as to what this students motivation were……You are pretty arogant to think you are in a position to make any kind of a judgement call. There are a lot of stress related issues that can lead to psychological disorders….such as depression…..which can be severe enough to result in suicide.
Thanks again Badger Herald…..for printing some of the most ignorant opinions on campus.
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The opinion section of this “newspaper” is ridiculous. There isn’t anyone better applying for these jobs? WTF.
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i think she has a valid point. to all of you above, don’t come crying to me when you are pissed about taxes. it is the selfish actions of these two who bump it up and make the world a crazy place.
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The jump in logic above is astounding. High taxes in Madison… I blame Audrey Seiler! That ordeal cost about $100,000 give or take… right? For the sake of simplicity, assuming 1 out of every two people in this city pays taxes it cost us $1 dollar each, boy is she breaking the bank. I bet the same article was written about her last year by some Herald writer, except now they have some other schmoe to talk about too.
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I used to date this girl.
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I hear she is hotter in person, is this true?
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I used to date her too. Then I went back to dating men.
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She is hot.
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Who’s hot, Joanna or Audrey? Who are you talking about?
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I’m a lesbian. I’ve never dated Audrey Seiler, but I think I’d feel safer with Joanna than I would with Audrey.
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I’m friends with Andy Morgan and I don’t think the writer of this article has any place to pass judgments on how people should deal with the stress in their life. He gets stressed out, and sometimes he needs time to get away. Not everyone can deal with things in the same way and it’s pretty ignorant of you to think so. Also, Audrey lied about her abduction. She actually gave the police solid reason to believe that a criminal was on the loose. Andy just left, and yes, he should have told people. As one of the people who was worried sick I know that more than anyone. However, your comparison of the two is totally off base. I know that this is an opinion section of the paper, but really, you should probably just keep them to yourself.
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I understand where your coming from, and in the future I will make a phone call. At the time I honestly didn’t think it was that big of deal, in hind-sight I can see the error of the judgement. One thing that I think seperates our two cases was Audrey mislead authority, and I was always completely honest. You can imagine I was pretty embarrased by all the coverage when I came back. Lesson Learned!
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He just did what half you jerks think of every day going to work… just keep going. fuck faces.
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This response may be a little delayed, but the author of this article should not expect to get any more attention herself than the subject of her writing. Her rhetoric was thoughtless, disrespectful, offensive, and a personal attack on an individual whose particular circumstance she did not even bother to connect to a live interview or face to face interaction. Please, give us a break and let her stick to writing fiction or cookbook recipes. Secondary skills can be very useful tools in the absence of career goals.