Actually I went to Harvard, but I do know that story from Penn. I think you have some of the facts off, though -- he was served at an official FIJI alumni pig roast as well as elsewhere with his brothers, and the FIJIs were not "expelled" by Penn -- they voluntarily voted to surrender their charter during an investigation by their own nationals, which had suspended them following the incident.
http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vn...9?in_archive=1
Everyone who is being sued in any situation tries to put the blame elsewhere. That's what being sued is all about. NO ONE, including any fraternity I've ever heard of, takes responsibility for a death when they aren't forced to; they'd be out of business in a year if they did. Fraternities are just as worried about liability as universities are; that's why they close chapters with "risk management" problems. "Risk management" is a euphemism for "You fools are going to get our asses sued, and we don't want to be held responsible for anybody's death."
Quote:
If a fraternity member drinks on campus and dies on campus then the school blames the fraternity because it was their member.
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Can you tell me some times when this has happened? Anyone here can name multiple drinking deaths in fraternity houses from the last few years off the tops of their heads, but kids drinking themselves into a stupor in a dorm and then dying in a dorm just doesn't happen very much, because dorms are almost always dry and almost always have adult supervision with real teeth. The fraternities that follow that policy don't have problems with this.
Edited to add: the fraternities that follow that policy include all NPC sororities, and note that (for example) Chi O is not being blamed/sued for the death of its former member in Colorado. NPC sorority houses are struck by lightning a lot more than they host alcohol-related deaths.