Sam was one of my highschool friends and my next door neighbor. I dont really know what to say except its really sad.

and she was in a house, she was a chi o at colorado state.

Today's CU Column
 

(I think Sigma Pi Natl. probably had to do something, but suspending the chapter may send the wrong message, since nothing has come out other than an underage girl, with a blood alcohol level about 4.0 (0.8 is the legal limit in my state) passed out and died in a seldom-used room, probably after walking to the house following an auto wreck.

(Similarly, when ever a policeman is involved in a shooting, the news reports that Officer AAAAA's gun was taken away, and he was assigned to desk duty.

(I think that both suspensions make the chapter/person look guilty. There'll never be a news story/TV report that the chapter or the officer has been reinstated.)

PS: I saw a story which said the girl had resigned from her sorority.

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Today's CU Column:

September 08, 2004

diane carman
Many are to blame in CSU death
By Diane Carman
Denver Post Columnist

When a dead body turns up in a fraternity house after a football game and nobody seems to know how it got there, something's wrong.

And when the body is found to have more than five times the blood-alcohol limit for driving legally in Colorado - even though she was too young to buy alcohol and the fraternity is not supposed to be serving booze - somebody's in trouble.

That is why it has been difficult to get the whole story of how a 19-year-old honor student died early Sunday morning at the Sigma Pi fraternity house at Colorado State University.

First, everybody had to sober up.

Then everybody had to lawyer up.

From the details available, it's apparent that all on her own Samantha Spady demonstrated some bad judgment. Then, when she lost consciousness from intoxication, her friends failed to rescue her. She was dead for several hours before anyone even noticed.

So, obviously, there's plenty of blame to go around here.

Her parents, like the parents of an estimated 1,400 other promising young people who die in alcohol-related incidents on college campuses every year, will struggle to understand how it happened. And college administrators will respond with still more rules, more counselors and more educational programs aimed at preventing more deaths.

On Tuesday, CSU president Larry Penley said that CSU "is not alone in dealing with the issue of alcohol abuse."

"I believe the university must take action to examine our campus climate," he wrote in a letter addressed to the campus community. He promised to appoint a task force this week to investigate campus alcohol abuse and to develop a plan to address it.

Meanwhile, Linda Kuk, vice president for student affairs, e-mailed the students reminding them of the campus services to treat alcohol and drug abuse, and saying, "Please take care of one another and be safe."

Getting wrecked in college is hardly new.

And while their sense of helplessness is obvious, if college administrators want to keep enrollment up, they can't allow a perception that they are ignoring the problem to gain any traction.

But it defies easy solution.

In 2002, eight members of the University of Wyoming track and cross country teams were killed when another student, who was drunk, slammed into their Jeep.

The drinking continues.

The California State University system outlawed naming campus events after beer companies after a student on the Chico campus died of alcohol poisoning.

The drinking continues.

And the death in 1978 of Chuck Stenzel, an Alfred University student who was locked in a trunk and told to drink a pint of whiskey, a six-pack of beer and a quart of wine in a fraternity hazing incident, was so shocking it sparked a nationwide anti-hazing, anti-drinking movement.

Still, the drinking continues. At the same university 24 years later, Benjamin Klein, 21, died in an alcohol-related incident at a fraternity house.

While college administrators, regents and legislators keep trying to find a way to get through to them, ultimately it's all up to the students and their parents.

Last week in New York, the Republicans spoke of the "soft bigotry of low expectations" that contributes to the poor performance of children in inner-city schools.

It also applies to kids who behave so irresponsibly on college campuses.

The same laws of physics, biology, chemistry and unintended consequences apply to them, no matter how fortunate they have been all their lives.

It's not asking too much to expect them to understand that.

In fact, it's the least we can do.

Diane Carman's column usually appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com .

such a tradegy. my thoughts and prayers to the familiy and friends of the young woman.

Actually, according to FCPD and CSUPD they have not released the toxicology reports and therefore have not said exactly what her blood alcohol level is.


James Baetke
The Collegian
Police reported Tuesday that the female CSU student found dead at the Sigma Pi fraternity house Sunday evening was involved in a single-car accident the night before.

Rita Davis, Fort Collins Police Services spokesperson, said 19-year-old Samantha Spady was coming home after the CSU football game and lost control of her vehicle in Fort Collins.

“The day after her death we received a call about an abandoned vehicle. Samantha had driven that car that evening,” Davis said.



Davis said the timeline from when Spady was picked up from the scene of the accident and when she was found dead at Sigma Pi the next day is still under investigation.

The national organization for Sigma Pi suspended the CSU chapter until the investigation clears the house of any wrongdoing.

Darren Pettapiece, president of the Sigma Pi chapter at CSU, said reports that someone from the fraternity house picked her up from the scene are untrue.“The investigators are still detailing her last hours,” Davis said.

There were no signs of obvious trauma nor was foul play a factor in her death, Davis said.

Giving a tour to his mother, a Sigma Pi fraternity member who did not live in the house at 709 Wagner Drive stumbled upon Spady’s body Sunday night. A coroner investigator and police responded to the scene around 6:30 p.m.

The Larimer County Coroner’s Office said Spady’s cause of death has not yet been determined but said officials cannot rule out that the accident may have contributed to her death.

“I do know that through the investigation we will investigate the car accident,” said Debbie Reifdorff, a deputy coroner for the coroner’s office. “If the car accident was involved in the death it will be on the death certificate.”

“The cause of death is pending,” Reifdorff said. More information should be available by the end of the week.

Although preliminary results show that Spady’s death may be alcohol-related, it is still unclear until the final autopsy results are finalized, Reifdorff said.

<b>Although some reports have stated Spady’s blood-alcohol level as five times the legal limit, FCPS, the coroner’s office and the CSU Police Department have all denied officially releasing that information.

“We do not have (her blood-alcohol level),” Davis said. Reifdoff said her office never releases preliminary information like that.

“I do not know where that information came from,” she said.

Yvonne Paez, public information officer for CSUPD, said that to her knowledge, CSUPD does not have that information, and if it did it would not be released unless it was public information.</b>

Students and faculty across the campus and residents in her hometown of Beatrice, Neb., are in shock.

“The whole (fraternity) house is in shock. It is a somber place right now,” said Pettapiece, who will remember her beautiful smile and caring personality the most.

Jason Sutter, Beatrice High School’s principal, knew Spady since the eighth grade and watched her grow up in high school as a cheerleader, National Honor Society member and homecoming queen.

“Sam was a leader. She was one of our best students in her class. She very much enjoyed school and was well respected,” Sutter said.

Chet McGrury, owner of Silver Screen Video in Spady’s hometown of Beatrice, employed Spady for about two years.

“She was a real neat girl, a real popular, friendly kid,” McGrury said. “She had real potential. She was going places.”

Sigma Pi terminated at CSU
 

FORT COLLINS - Colorado State University announced the termination of the Sigma Pi fraternity as a student organization Thursday.

The decision was backed by CSU's student Intrafraternity Council and the national Sigma Pi organization. Sigma Pi's national organization had revoked the group's charter earlier in the week.

The university based its decision on several rule violations over the past year, some alcohol-related. The decision cited recent incidents of hosting unauthorized parties and serving alcohol at the Sigma Pi fraternity house. Serving alcohol is a violation of university-fraternity rules. The group's infractions also included serving alcohol to minors.

On Sunday, CSU sophomore Samantha Spady was found dead inside the Sigma Pi house. Spady died of an apparent alcohol overdose.

Also on Thursday the student presidents of campus fraternities and sororities will meet to discuss changes in the Greek community to address alcohol abuse. The meeting is at 6 p.m. in the Cherokee Park room of the Lory Student Center.

The university is also moving forward on creating a university-community task force to examine Colorado State's programs and policies in dealing with alcohol abuse. Task force members are being appointed this week.

Link http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?O...7-c589c01ca7bf

The official Sigma Pi national statements are, of course, on their web site

http://www.sigmapi.org

It is a shame, she was a gorgeous young woman
http://www.ktvu.com/news/3711309/detail.html

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0907/3710946.jpg

Can someone help clear this up for me? I understand the Sigma Pi chapter had previous risk management issues, but if they had nothing to do with her consumption of alcohol, were not having a party, etc., why was their chapter closed due to this incident?

I'm wondering the same thing too DZHBrown.... also like someone else asked why she resigned.

DZHBrown, As I understand it from the announcement Sigma Pi posted on its web site and from recent news stories, the chapter closing was because of the risk management violations, not specifically because of Ms Spday's death.

Now, in a more cynical (or maybe realistic) vein, I'd guess -- but can't prove -- that the international publicity and the general campus conditions (Delta Sigma Phi alleged to have had recent risk management violations; riots; widespread and publicized concerns about the possibility of campus problems stemming from the U of Colorado - Colorado State game) combined to cause Sigma Pi and the university to decide that closing the chapter was a wise course of action.

In addition, I'm rather curious about the language of the "expression of sympathy" on Sigma Pi's web site. It refers to Ms Spady as a "daughter and dear friend." Is it possible that her father is a Sigma Pi? If so, that might have been another (unacknowledged) factor in deciding to close the chapter.

Finally there's the issue of the reports that Ms Spady had been dead for around 12 hours before her body was discovered. IF anyone in the house knew she was there, and knew that she was seriously impaired in some way, twelve hours without checking on her seems like an awfully long time, and may also have been considered.

We may, of course, never know exactly what happened or the precise combination of reasons for closing the chapter.

One quick point of clarification. News stories here have indicated that members checked on her "several" times but assumed she was passed out. I don't know how many times I've heard of that happening.

To go a step farther with cynical speculation, you would have to think that at least part of the alcohol was served to her at the house. Maybe not, but I would consider the likelihood fairly high.

The fact that the chapter had previous Risk Management problems but weren't closed down is probably an indicator that they were fairly minor, but they can use the former them as a "reason" for jerking the charter without admitting any complicity in Spady's death. Otherwise, why would they close the chapter after such a short investigation and before any university or police reports were issued?

I'm guessing there's a lot more to the story than we know.

While I agree with 95% of your post, I'm really suprised by this comment. Are you doubting that they checked on her, or that they thought she passed out?

Taking my letters off for a moment, I have to say.. I think that happens every Thursday night. I think it's pretty common practice when people have been drinking that somebody checks on everyone who's passed out to make sure they're okay. What do you find odd about that?

Oh no. I'm sure they checked on her and assumed she had passed out. I've heard that in other places, including a death at our chapter at Ohio State. In retrospect, it's always a bad assumption. It's important to be sure the person is breathing, and if there is ANY question, get medical help immediately.

I have to agree that checking on someone includes making sure he or she is breathing. It's not much of a check if that isn't done, if you ask me. That's why I brought up the 12 hours.

The real truth is that anyone who has passed out due to alcohol should not be left alone at all. There are numerous cases of someone rolling over in his/her stupor, throwing up and drowing in their own vomit.