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The Boston Globe
January 23, 2003,
DEADLY YALE CRASH OCCURRED AFTER RUSH-WEEK RITE
FRATERNITY MEN HAD PARTIED IN NYC
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff
NEW HAVEN - The early-morning crash that killed four Yale students and
injured five others last week on Interstate 95 followed a night of reveling
in a New York City bar as part of a rush week tradition that entails the
capture of a senior fraternity member by freshman pledges.
The ritual, which goes back generations in the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity at Yale, led other upperclassmen to New York last Thursday, on a
mission to liberate the senior. On the return trip to New Haven, a sport
utility vehicle carrying the nine Yale students crashed into a jackknifed
tractor-trailer.
State Police said yesterday that they have yet to determine what caused the
crash on an icy, poorly lighted northbound stretch of highway near
Bridgeport shortly after 5 a.m. Friday. "It is way too early to determine
what caused this," said Sergeant J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the
Connecticut State Police. However, Vance said, early toxicology results
showing the blood-alcohol level of the deceased student driver could be
made public tomorrow, along with other initial findings. Investigations
into the crash are also being conducted by the National Transportation
Safety Board. Final results of the investigations are not expected for six
to eight weeks.
Members of the fraternity, of which all nine crash victims were members or
pledges, spoke little publicly this week, saying they have been directed
not to speak with the news media. However, the fraternity president said
the SUV that crashed had a "designated driver" at the wheel.
University officials yesterday offered little comment on the crash, except
to say that the school is cooperating with authorities and that officials
are doing all they can to assist grieving families and students.
"From the moment this happened on Friday, everyone in this university has
worked around the clock to help the families and the friends of the
students who were killed, as well as those of the students injured," said
Tom Conroy, a Yale spokesman.
The crash has rocked this campus, marking the start of the new semester
with funerals and memorial services for the four students who died: Kyle M.
Burnat, 19, of College Park, Ga., Andrew K. Dwyer, 20, of Hobe Sound, Fla.,
Sean R. Fenton, 20, of Newport Beach, Calif., and Nicholas G. Grass, 19, of
Holyoke. Three of the injured students have been released from area
hospitals but two, Brett D. Smith, 18, of Papillion, Neb., and Eric W.
Wenzel, 21, of Garden City, N.Y., remained hospitalized yesterday,
according to university officials.
The tragedy has also highlighted the arm's-length relationship between the
university and its fraternities, onetime dominant social empires that have
been forced off campus and are independent of the university. While hazing
is a barred activity, university officials acknowledged they are reliant on
students to report activity that may be deemed inappropriate.
"The fraternities are not part of the university," Conroy said. "The
university does not run them, so we don't supervise fraternities."
David Easlick, executive director of Delta Kappa Epsilon, said the national
umbrella of the fraternity does not monitor fraternity activities and was
unaware of the Yale chapter's pledge ritual.
"It's no national tradition. It's a thing that Yale students do," Easlick
said.
The game began Thursday night when six freshmen captured a senior
fraternity member as part of a Hell Week initiation rite that members said
has been played out for six decades.
The senior had been prepped in advance, and there were rules about where he
could be taken and how long he could be kept hidden, according to Nicholas
Sinatra, 21, a senior and president of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Yale.
The freshmen opted to take their captive to New York City by train. The
senior told other fraternity members via cellphone where he was being
taken, according to one freshman pledge who asked not to be identified.
Meanwhile, 16 upperclassmen had driven to New York City in three vehicles.
They met up with some chapter alumni. Later, the upperclassmen "recovered"
the captive senior from the freshmen and the whole group gathered at a bar,
Sinatra said.
Shortly after 3 a.m., the group of 23 decided to head home, Sinatra said.
Because the next train back to New Haven was not leaving until 5 a.m., the
six freshmen and the senior opted to split up among the three vehicles of
the upperclassmen for the trip back to Yale.
Sinatra said that he, Fenton, and one other fraternity member were
designated drivers. Sinatra said he had nothing to drink.
The caravan departed in roughly 20-minute intervals starting at about 3
a.m., Sinatra said. The sport utility vehicle that crashed, driven by
Fenton and carrying eight passengers, was the second to leave, Sinatra said.
Sinatra said his vehicle was the last to depart New York, at approximately
3:45 a.m. Sinatra said he stopped at a McDonald's en route and shortly
after 5 a.m. saw the crash from the highway.
The accident occurred near Exit 24, at the Bridgeport/Fairfield line, where
a tractor-trailer that had skidded out of control and crashed was blocking
northbound lanes.
"We knew it was a horrible accident," Sinatra said. "We had no idea it was
our friends."
Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded at Yale in 1844. Both President Bush and
his father, former President George H.W. Bush, were members. It was not the
university's first fraternity, but for years it was Yale's most prominent.
When fraternities lost favor on campus in the 1960s and relinquished their
ornate clubhouses, Delta Kappa Epsilon was the sole fraternity that
remained active, meeting in common rooms until it reemerged with a new
house off campus in 1987.
Today, there are about 15 fraternities and sororities with Yale members,
according to Conroy, the Yale spokesman.
In contrast to some campuses that have stepped up their monitoring of Greek
systems following alcohol-related deaths - like one at MIT in 1997 that
resulted in a $6 million settlement paid by the university - Yale has
maintained a somewhat distanced relationship with its Greek system, which
some describe as a subculture on a campus where residential colleges
dominate social life.
But university officials said that at a time like this, divides break down.
The university has made chaplains available, along with counseling for the
members, among other services and assistance.
"Whether it was just a group of students whose only affiliation was
friendship or whether it was members of a fraternity - that makes no
difference to the university in how they respond to helping the students,"
Conroy said.
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company
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