What kind of world do we live in?
For this academic year I volunteered to be a mentor for an incoming first year student. We had our orientation meeting today where the program organizers explained how the program works and what is expected from us the mentors. The meeting ended with a list of things we are not to do. Among these:

Do not provide the student alcohol.
Do not supply drugs to the student.
Do not request money from the student.
Do not have sexual relations or activities with the student.

One of the mentors asked what kind of liability we have should a student hurt himself or herself when we are doing something with them. The organizers said that the students were signing release forms, but in reality these have very little validity and if the parents wanted to they could sue us.

This is the reality we live in: a world that is dictated by abuse and litigation, even when you try to help someone out.