Organizers of Camp DASH were not new to hosting adolescents for several weeks on campus while they studied the effects of dietary changes on their bodies.
Camp DASH was the focus of much news coverage last week after the camp ended two weeks early because of disciplinary issues among its young campers.
Connie Weaver, the Purdue nutrition professor whose career has been lauded for the lingering effects of her research over the years, ran the similar Camp Calcium for decades.
The University has pledged to investigate what happened with Camp DASH and has not yet released details of what organizers knew when about the police incidents that included instances of alleged rape, aggravated assaults and what was purportedly a nude video of a camper circulated to other campers.
So what was different about Camp Calcium, widely lauded for its research into the effects of calcium on growing bodies, and Camp DASH, which sought to measure the effects of salt in the diets of 11- to 15-year-olds in the upper third of distribution of blood pressure?
Some answers might be found in the descriptions found online of the research and clinical trials of the two camps.
The goals of Camp DASH were outlined in ClinicalTrials.gov, a U.S. National Institutes of Health website. The study was set to run from October 2016 to August 2020.
It was designed to measure the effects of four levels of sodium in two 25-day feeding interventions with a weeklong break between the sessions. The lower-sodium diets would consist of fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods. The higher-sodium diets would include foods that provide the majority of energy for adolescents in the U.S., i.e. grain-based desserts, pizza, sugary drinks, pasta, chicken and chicken mixed dishes.
Purdue described Camp DASH online in an Information for Campers page, saying campers would spend one half eating one diet and then switch to another the second half.
In an Exponent article from December, Weaver said some children attend her camps looking for adult stability, and shes giving her time and attention to kids who need it. My work is also my philanthropy, she said.
Camp DASH would attract 150 campers, according to the December article.
Two counselors told The Exponent last week that about 100 kids participated this summer.
But according to online Camp Calcium Databases from 1990, when the camp began, through 2010, the largest of those camps involved 70 children. The Camp Calcium studies varied slightly in the specific calcium research question and the ethnicities and other characteristics of the participants.
A university spokesman has not responded to an inquiry about whether Camp Calcium was held after 2010, and if so, how many campers were included.
According to the databases, these are the children studied in Camp Calcium:
1990: 14 girls and 11 female adults
1993: 26 teen girls with 6 returning from Camp 1
1996: 16 girls returned from Camp 2
1997: 19 black girls
1999, 2000: 34 and 63 teens, respectively
2001: 37 teen boys
2004: 42 boys and girls
2005: 31 boys and girls
2007: 47 girls
2010: 70 boys and girls
Purdue issued a news release Friday stating President Mitch Daniels has appointed the Universitys vice president for ethics and compliance to lead an institutional review and assessment of issues and decisions related to Camp DASH.
The release said that after the first session, the program was fully assessed by campus officials, resulting in a decision to conduct the second session, contingent upon the implementation of an intervention plan, which included the hiring of an adolescent behavior specialist, increased training for counselors and directing the continued immediate reporting of illegal behaviors.
Seven campers were expelled during the first session, the news release said.
Police calls show that some of the most egregious allegations, particularly in the second session, were not reported until days after they happened.
In addition to the police and internal investigations, research protocols are being assessed through Purdues Human Research Protection Program.
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Camp DASH apparently involved more campers than previous camps - Purdue Exponent
