LSU President F. King Alexander’s decision to ban alcohol for all on-campus Greek Life events is the latest ruling to come out of the hazing death of Maxwell Gruver more than a month ago.
According to an LSUPD investigation, Gruver reported to the Phi Delta Theta house late Sept. 13 to participate in “Bible Study,” a drinking game conducted by the older members of the fraternity. Gruver and other pledges were forced to drink a 190 proof liquor, but Gruver was forced to drink more than double the other pledges. Gruver was laid on a couch by fraternity members who noticed he was heavily intoxicated.
At 11 a.m. the next morning, fraternity members noticed he had a weak pulse and transported him to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Alexander held a press conference later that afternoon where he announced all Greek Life activities at the University would be suspended. He confirmed alcohol was a primary factor in the death, and condemned hazing.
“As we have continually warned over and over again, hazing is dangerous, irresponsible and unacceptable,” Alexander said. “It will not be tolerated at LSU.”
Shortly before the press conference, the national Phi Delta Theta organization suspended the University chapter’s operations and launched their own investigation. On Sept. 18, they officially removed the charter for the chapter, removing them from campus.
On Sept. 21, LSU Director of Greek Life Angela Guillory announced in a letter that some Greek Life activities would resume Sept. 24. The reinstated activities included chapter judicial meetings, risk management workshops and homecoming-related activities.
The letter said tailgating would resume the following weekend with a new set of guidelines for all student organizations. The new procedures require all student organizations that tailgate on the Parade Ground to register on TigerLink, not provide common source alcohol, not have a tent larger than 10 by 10 feet, not have furniture and not set up before 8 a.m. on gameday. Registered events on TigerLink at chapter houses must also adhere to all applicable rules.
On Sept. 29, Alexander announced the University assembled a task force on Greek Life to examine the culture on campus with perspectives from different departments and organizations affiliated with the University. The task force includes members of Greek Life, LSU Student Government, Student Advocacy and Accountability, LSU Athletics and the LSU Foundation.
“Maxwell Gruver’s death was a tragedy not only for his family, but for the entire LSU community,” Alexander said in the statement. “The Task Force will look deeply into our Greek community, the University structures and policies that support it and the strengths and weaknesses that define it.”
On Oct. 4, a report in The Daily Reveille revealed Phi Delta Theta had been placed on interim suspension from Nov. 16, 2016 to Dec. 21, 2016, and was investigated after receiving an anonymous alleged hazing complaint. According to the complaint, new members were required to buy chewing tobacco and cigarettes, keep them on them and give them to the older fraternity brothers. The report said pledges were allegedly required to be at the fraternity house at 6 a.m. every day and report to tailgates at 1 a.m. before home games.
The report alleged pledges were to be available to fraternity members at any time of the day, excluding times pledges were in class, were 24 hours from a test or when parents came into town. Pledges were called to deliver food and pick up brothers from bars at 3 a.m., and they were “exhausted all of the time.”
A separate complaint was filed by a student’s parent, who said the fraternity members’ behavior was “degrading to the LSU name.”
“We saw their pledges sleeping in their own puke behind the bar while people were pouring beer and snorting cocaine,” the complainant said.
In a letter Guillory sent to Greek chapter presidents on Oct. 4, the University reinstated Greek Life activities, excluding overnight retreats and new member initiation. Chapters could resume new member education upon approval of a new member education planning worksheet submitted to chapter advisers and respective Greek Life council advisers.
“We have to go chapter by chapter and make sure the safeguards are in place that hazing will not return the minute new member education returns,” said Dean of Students Mari Fuentes-Martin. “For some people, when you say we go back to new member education, you go back to hazing. That’s what we’re trying to control.”
New member education meetings and activities must be on campus, cannot start until 9 a.m. and must conclude by 8 p.m. each day, unless HQs require a different time frame. Initiation must also occur before Nov. 22, according to the letter.
The document stated chapter presidents, risk management social chairmen and advisers must attend a mandatory social event and risk management training presented by Greek Life. Upon completion of this training, organizations were allowed to resume having events with alcohol on Oct. 12. The new student organization tailgating policies will also remain in place for the rest of the semester.
On Oct. 11, LSUPD issued arrest warrants for 10 individuals in connection with Maxwell Gruver’s death. The 10 individuals who were booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on hazing were Matthew Naquin, Zachary Castillo, Elliott Eaton, Patrick Forde, Sean Paul Gott, Zachary Hall, Ryan Isto, Hudson Kirkpatrick, *Sean Pennison and Nicholas Taulli. Forde and Gott are not current students at the University, but Gott was enrolled at the time of the incident, according to LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard.
Naquin was arrested on an additional count of negligent homicide. They were later released on bond.
Shortly after the arrest warrants were issued on Oct. 11, East Baton Rouge Coroner William “Beau” Clark confirmed Gruver’s death was accidental and the result of acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration. Clark said Gruver’s alcohol level was .495 at the time of his death.
Later that night, the national Phi Delta Theta chapter officially terminated membership of the 10 individuals arrested, according to a press release on the chapter’s website.
Alexander’s Task Force on Greek Life held its first meeting on Oct. 16 to discuss its overall timeline, goals and formation of subcommittees to review specific aspects of Greek life and hazing at the University. The entire task force will meet Nov. 15 and make final recommendations Jan. 30, 2018.
Alexander said there is no “return to normalcy” for Greek organizations on campus, and these organizations must be “better than the way it was.”
“I’m asking you guys to make recommendations that set up new expectations for our Greek culture,” Alexander said. “At the end of the day, if we need to have an effect on the peer-to-peer attitude about [hazing], it’s our students who know about this.”
Subcommittee I will meet every Monday, and will focus on University Governance and Oversight on Greek Organizations. Subcommittee II will meet every Tuesday, and will focus on Greek Organization Internal Governance and Accountability. Subcommittee III will meet every Wednesday, and will focus on University Governance and Oversight of Other Student Organizations.
On Oct. 19, Alexander sent a letter to Greek chapter presidents announcing his decision to suspend alcohol for all on-campus Greek Life events pending the final recommendations of the task force.
Alexander said in the letter that Greek students, alumni and parents who he has spoken to do not grasp the severity and magnitude of the situation. Alexander said he believes there are many in the Greek system who “seek to maintain the status quo despite continued warnings about the dangers inherent in such actions.”
Alexander encourages students to contact the task force with any suggestions on policy changes or improvements by email to [email protected].
“I ask again that we work together in order to eradicate this dangerous undercurrent of behavior,” Alexander said in the letter. “Commit to change for the better. If your organization is already a standard-bearer, take this time to help your peers move toward that same threshold. If you know of troubling, potentially hazardous behavior within your house, your chapter, or other student organizations, I ask that you report it now. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your friends. Do it for Max and the Gruver family.”
Natalie Anderson and Abbie Shull contributed to this report.
*Editor’s Note: Sean Pennison is an employee of Tiger TV in the Office of Student Media