First of all, I'm from Nevada, I'm alumnus of Pikes there.
All media related to the incident has been skewed, some flat out lied, some misled by presentation of the facts and their ordering. It's amazing how much they got wrong in the rush to indict the guys and the greek system. In one article it started with a headline of the "Univ. warned fraternity about traditions" Then it opened with a repeat of the headline, then stated, Pike pledge drowns, then had a quote of the Univ.'s Greek Advisor "I warned this fraternity last week." By all appearances, it looks as if the Pike were just warned about misbehaving a week prior to the incident, except that the fraternity warned was ATO. This is just one instance of many media exaggerations.
The D.A. decided that no crime had been committed, that it was just an accident. This in the face of a (relatively) new anti-hazing law in NV. The University is in cover their a$$ mode. It's their pond. Why the Pike's got canned has more to do with the fraternity's relative newness on campus (1988), since we don't have powerful alumni, yet. ATO's had a guy fall from a window drunk and die. Nothing.
Why? They have old Nevada (state and university) alumni, such as former US Senator Richard Bryan among many others who would have lynched the admin, or worse stopped donating. Same thing with SN, who had a pledge go in to a coma from drinking. I'm not advocating that nothing being done in the face of all three incidents be done, but just rather some consistancy in how the rules are applied.
In this case it was a bunch of guys who went swimming,
actives and pledges, as a goof, definitely more brotherhood bullsh!t male bonding, than a hazing
incident. Polar bear club style (the water's about 55-60 F). He didn't tell anyone he couldn't swim. Of the 15-18 guys there, 6-7 were registered life guards. Alcohol was determined NOT to be a factor. The first thing everyone did when they got there was decide to jump in, and get right out. But most decided that it wasn't all that cold and there is a fountain about 25 ft offshore, so some swam out there. It was at that point that he got back in the water and tried to swim.
I'm not saying the Pike's at NV are models of perfect behavior, but I had met many of the guys involved in this incident in the weeks prior and was very impressed with them. The chapter was in the running for regional and national awards from the Natl organization. The two guys that will get the most harsh punishment, are two of the best guys I've ever met in my 10 year association with Pikes. The pledge ed, a senior applying to many top rated grad. programs, had just the week before this incident been awarded the Univ. Greek Board's award for scholar of the year.
In this case they handled themselves as best they could in the face of a tragedy, and they are definitely paying for it with their scholastic careers facing serious problems.
However, this will all be hashed out in court, as a state school, Univ. of Nevada has to follow due process, and the chapter and the students will unfortunately have to sue to make sure they get their say, which hasn't been happening thus far.
(FYI, the lake is right on campus by the DC, and a couple of dorms. It's tiny, more a pond than a lake, about 300 ft by 100ft. I've known people to swim it, dive it, hell some of my buddies back in the day jet skied it. The area is not very well lit, it's 4 feet deep 8 ft out and 15 ft deep 2 feet further from shore. Rugby, football, Pi Phis, SAEs, independents, all swim it. If you know how to swim it's nothing. One thing about swimming in general, it's something that most people over-estimate their abililty to do.)