Fraternity Safety Expert Opines on Student Death at Party

Case Overview

This case involves a junior at a large state university who died after attending a party at a fraternity house. The student was found unconscious by members of the fraternity after having ingested a large quantity of illegal drugs that were provided by fraternity members. After finding the student, members of the fraternity attempted in vain to revive him by slapping him on the face, as well as splashing him with cold water. Nearly two hours after the student was found to be unconscious fraternity members called for an ambulance, who pronounced the student dead at the scene.

Questions to the Education expert and their responses

Please describe your experience with fraternity safety and compliance, especially as it relates to drugs and alcohol.

I have more than 25 years experience at the campus level in fraternity conduct policy development, education, and enforcement and have directly supervised national fraternity and sorority activities on campus for more than 10 years. I have also served as 4 years as an elected national officer supervising 6 chapters and participating in student leader (chapter officer) training and alumni education. My extensive volunteer work at the chapter level affords me an excellent understanding of the actual functioning of chapters and undergraduate behavior. Further, I am very familiar with the functioning of well run national fraternities, who either through their insurers or risk reduction organizations, have extensive education programs and training to prevent situations described in the scenario.

What are safeguards to prevent incidents like this from occurring?

The incident described should have never happened. Alcohol problems are predictable and the fraternity in question should have had procedures in place to prevent minors from consuming alcohol. In the best case, the chapter is alcohol-free and does not or should not be hosting events with substances at the facility. The group should have also had sober officers at the event in order to have the capacity to act during an emergency. Universities also sponsor education and compliance work; however some universities are more likely to employ a harm reduction model than work on risk and protective factors, making the scenario described more likely to happen.

About the expert

This expert has three decades of experience in public university administration. He earned his BS and MS in secondary education from the University of Idaho and his PhD in higher education administration from Washington State University. He has presented at higher education conferences nationally and is a member of several prestigious organizations, including the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. He started his career at the University of Idaho where he served as the director of the campus and Greek life programs. He then went to Washington State University where he served as the associate director of the Office of Student Conduct, the associate dean of students, the dean of students, and as affiliate faculty. Currently, this expert serves as the dean of students and vice president of student affairs at a public state university in Idaho.

E-133396

Specialties:

Education