Father blames alcohol for student's death

this is a terrible situation, i will be praying for his family and friends.

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• Posted by kuqt24 on March 8, 2009 at 10 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

As a member of the greek community, my wishes go out to the men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. I hope everyone stays respectful and doesn't get caught up in an ensuing rumor mill.

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• Posted by jayhawk2009 on March 8, 2009 at 11:33 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

horrible for a 19 year old kid to lose his life... so sorry for his family and friends

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• Posted by HearstAward on March 8, 2009 at 11:52 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

It reads like they are saying he died in his sleep, which doesn't sound likely for a 19 year old. Sometimes things just happen seemingly at random and this can be the most difficult to cope with. Family and friends will need support. The KU community needs to reach out to these people.

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• Posted by irishswearingen on March 9, 2009 at 10:15 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

What a senseless tragedy! When are all these frats going to pull there heads out and realize that trying to drink as much as possible in the shortest time is not cool -it's downright dumb. You might as well play Russian Roulette. The difference in the amount of liquor required to pass out and to die are miniscule. As for the "brothers of SAE", why the hell did it take until 2:30 the next afternoon to check on one of your "brothers" who obviously drank too much the night before? 1700 students under the age 0f 21 die every year from alcohol poisoning, and a high percentage of them were connected to fraternity hazing or partying. But it's not going to happen to you, right? As for jayhawk2009's comments, get out of your defensive mode and try being part of the solution, not the problem.

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• Posted by JimBob on March 9, 2009 at 10:22 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Sorry for recognizing the difference between speculation and fact.

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• Posted by jayhawk2009 on March 9, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

James Robert aka JimBob, you basically have no clue what is going on. Your "facts" are completely bogus, and your assumption-ridden commentary is glib at best. I can cite a bunch of self-created facts too: 100% of people named JimBob are clueless. Way to assume that the poor kid was drinking and then unleash a scathing critique of the quality of brotherhood in the fraternity. Your act is about as fresh as a Foghat concert.

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• Posted by tj_whatley on March 9, 2009 at 10:39 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

To the family, friends, and brothers of SAE- My deepest sympathy and prayers go out to all of you!

PHI ALPHA!!! 04’ (randy phillips)

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• Posted by rphillips77stl on March 9, 2009 at 12:49 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this young man, to the men of the Kansas Alpha Chapter house, and to the students and community members at the university.

As one of the former Presidents(EA) of the Chapter house, and a very proud member of the greek community, I find the comments made above both inapproporate and unsubstantiated. It is not responsible of us at this point, JimBob, to be making statements such as these. While your thoughts on alcohol abuse are interesting, this is the time for support and sympathy.

Brothers, I am so sorry to hear about your loss.

Phi Alpha- P Getz KS Alpha 97

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• Posted by pgetz on March 9, 2009 at 1:07 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

As often as I crack frat jokes this aint a laughing matter. I hope the family and everyone who knew him, greek or not, heals quickly.

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• Posted by phoenix on March 9, 2009 at 1:40 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

It is entirely unremarkable for an average college student to be asleep on an early weekend afternoon. Maybe the investigation will find that people ignored warning signs, but until then, please don't assume that anyone was irresponsible or uncaring just because they didn't check on a teenager who seemed to be sleeping in a reasonable amount. Please also keep in mind that his death might have had nothing to do with drinking, or hazing, or being in a fraternity at all. No one has the answers yet. My heart goes out to all the people who just lost a piece of their lives.

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• Posted by rocket on March 9, 2009 at 2:43 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Ok this goes out to JimBob and lifelessmelancholy.....you have no idea the facts on this matter so before you go slamming the fraternity house get em straight. You know nothing about MY house or this young man and his past. Nor do you evn know how he passed away. And it deeply angers me to hear people take this approach when you have no info other than the very limited info that's out.....ALL SPECULATION. For the question of how none of his "brothers" noticed him until 2.30pm.....? Not sure if you were an early riser in college, but sleeping that late is fairly common amongst kids this age. Yo, melancholy....why do you have no respect for SAE...is it cause you didn't make the grade to be an SAE or you just don't know enough about fraternities so you are salty towards them? This is a tragic situation and as former President of the SAE house at Kansas my deepest thoughts and support go out to the men of the house. It's speculation and rumor's, as you've already seen, that these young men now have to deal w/. Every day of the week students at the University of Kansas and Universities accross the nation go out and drink and yes, too often drink too much, but this isn't the Fraternities fault(in some cases yes in most cases no). This really comes down to responsibility of the individual. I can guarantee nobody at SAE KS Alpha forced him to drink. People should check into the positives that Fraternities bring to the community and University as opposed to the negatives. Gentleman, I am sorry to hear of your loss. PHI ALPHA Brothers - Bryson Stamm 2006

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• Posted by bstamm06 on March 9, 2009 at 2:51 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

"Yo, melancholy....why do you have no respect for SAE...is it cause you didn't make the grade to be an SAE or you just don't know enough about fraternities so you are salty towards them?"

It may or may not have something to do with SAE being known as "Sexual Assault Expected." I'm not saying SAE is actually that way, but we all know fraternities and sororities are stereotyped (tri-delt, anyone?)

Despite this image, I will disagree that it reflects badly on SAE because they found him at 2:30 PM. They are college guys... Sleeping in is more than typical on the weekend.

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• Posted by rockchalk123 on March 9, 2009 at 3:45 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Thoughts and prayers go out to the brothers of the Kansas Alpha chapter of SAE all the way from the rivals at K-State.

Phi Alpha.

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• Posted by kstateguy20 on March 9, 2009 at 4:22 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Don't be rude. Regardless if this happened at a greek house, house party, vacation or a street corner-- it's a tragedy. This isn't about your little anti-greek pedestal. Please grow up and save that for another day. Today this is about the tragic death of a KU STUDENT. And we are all, if nothing else, a member of that community. As to the members of SAE, our thoughts and prayers go out to you.

Please be respectful. Yesterday, Jason's parents lost their son. And the men of SAE lost their friend. Please remember that when displaying your public opinion on here.

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• Posted by mrug11 on March 9, 2009 at 4:31 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

I've been reading discussions on this all day only to be disgusted by the quality therein. The notion that this should be a forum discussion about the pro's and cons of greek life is totally disrespectful to the family and the memory of a man that had a world of potential in front of him. Instead of discussing the petty arguments that have been around KU since before we all attended, consider how trivial they are in comparison to this great tragedy. Because this is not the first time a KU student has lost his life at an early age while attending the university, please refrain from speculation and blame. Instead, recognize the enormity of the situation and please be a support for the friends, family and memory of Jason.

As an alumnus of Kansas Alpha SAE, my thoughts and prayers are with Jason's family and the men of the chapter. Phi Alpha during what is truly a dark hour. Jake Kenyon '07

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• Posted by kenyon on March 9, 2009 at 6:04 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

First, and foremost, my condolences to the Wren family, the men of SAE, and other friends of Jason.

What I find absolutely disgusting is that similar words were not what came first from others posting on this forum. Neither the cause of Jason's death nor the circumstances surrounding it has been released, so please stop with the speculation.

Lifelessmelancholy, you're comments were rude and offensive. College is not highschool. If you don't come to a college class, your parents do not receive a letter informing them of your truancy. Similarly, college housing, Greek or not, is not like living at home with mom and dad. There's no curfew and you don't have to come to dinner if you don't want to. But this is what makes college such a great time in a young person's life--the freedom is allows them. And I think that most of us, even in the face of such a tragedy, would prefer freedom to paternalism. The fact that this young man was not discovered until 2:30 is not uncommon. As many have noted, college kids sleep late. But it is equally uncommon for someone to notice that he was not around, and immediately assume the worst. Instead, it's much more likely to assume that he was out, eating lunch, running an errand, etc.

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• Posted by Larryville09 on March 9, 2009 at 7:38 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

To the men of SAE, their families, and to the friends and familes of Jason...my deepest sympathy. My thoughts go out to you in this very trying time.

To add insult to injury..today is our fine establishments founders day.

PHI ALPHA B.Currey - Kansas Alpha '02

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• Posted by bcurrey02 on March 10, 2009 at 12:11 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

First and foremost my thoughts and prayers are with the Wren family and my fellow SAE's. I am saddened by the news. If there is anything I can do to assist, I am a phone call away. PHI ALPHA gentlemen, Eric Slivinski '04 (Former EA)

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• Posted by ESliv1 on March 10, 2009 at 1:25 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

This is truly a very sad story and my thoughts are with the Wren family and SAE members. To all those who think the tragic death was due to the fraternity is not true I was at SAE saturday night and they were simply just hanging out there were not many people there and everyone was in complete control of themselves. As far as members of the house not calling the cops until 230 is completely fair. I often sleep past that time especially on a sunday and if one of my roommates was still asleep past that time I would not think it was out of the ordinary.

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• Posted by nikegolf21 on March 10, 2009 at 5:11 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Let us not forget, everything surrounding his death right now is speculation....we can spin this any way we wish.

Please do not forget, this is about a 19 years YOUNG student who is not with us anymore.

His family, his friends and brothers are suffering today- please be respectful of the life he lived and the memory that his family will have.....

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• Posted by Steven on March 10, 2009 at 1:45 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

This is a terrible thing that happened but you cannot blame the fraternity. He went out with his friends and drank. I doubt his friends were focused on the number of drinks he had in his hand, as they probably were focused on their own drinks they had consumed. They saw a friend who appeared to have had too much and put him in bed. A friend of mine sleeps in until around 4 every sunday and I don't just assume something is wrong, some people just are tired and sleep in at times.

To blame the fraternity makes me think of the kid who died at the KU dorms and wasn't found for days until a "foul odor" was reported emanating from his room. And his friends are irresponsible for going to wake up what they thought was an late-sleeping friend at 2:30?

In no way am I trying to diminish the magnitude of what just happened, but it always appears that whenever something happens at a fraternity people come out of the woodwork to criticize them. At the same time I notice that I didn't see one comment criticizing dorms when a tragedy occurs there. We should realistically look at the situation instead of turning this into a forum to bash the Greek system.

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• Posted by kael on March 10, 2009 at 3:28 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

An SAE died in the SAE house at SMU, and the SAE's called his death an isolated incident. Two years later, we find out that other SAE members were implicated via text message in drug use the night he died, that one of them may have provided the drugs that killed him, that there had been three other near-fatal overdoses in the weeks leading up to his death, that actives sent pledges on drug runs to local bars, and that dealers routinely delivered to the house. Yet every member of the house allowed their brother to be painted as a drug addict because there were too cowardly to speak up, because they didn't want to risk getting thrown off campus, and because the whole is more important than any of its parts.

The same thing seems to be happening at KU that happened at SMU: SAE's and all the other fraternities are circling the wagons because an attack on one house is an attack on all houses. It's about protecting a way of life. Brothers are brothers as long as you are alive to drink; don't expect them to do anything that might jeopardize the house's survival.

We may never know what happened to Jason because the wall of silence has gone up. SAE members have been told to shut up, to play dumb, and even lie. We may never know if anyone gave Jason the booze, if anyone coaxed him to keep drinking, if anyone dumped him in his bed, if anyone knew he was in distress, if his "brothers" refused to call an ambulance because they were afraid of getting in trouble. The only thing we do know is that so far the SAE's are showing their true colors.

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• Posted by ridemponies on March 10, 2009 at 10:25 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

Thoughts and prayers to the Men at SAE and the family of Jason. This is a sad situation. I have friends that are SAEs and have attended their social events many times, they know how to have a good time. This being said, It sucks that this kid didnt know his limits. Its hard to put a blame on the SAE house, the greek system or anyone other then this kid him self. I think most of us have had experience with alcohol and it is a shame this kid didnt know his limits. I would like to think that people can put all their greek hate and criticism of the greeks and stereo types that go along with it and pray to what or who ever it is you pray to for Jason and his family.

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• Posted by mkozak on March 10, 2009 at 11:09 p.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

All my thought and prayers go out to his family and the men of SAE. That being said:

Someone really should have noticed that he was not breathing before 2:30pm. Like it or not, I guarantee at least one person in his fraternity noticed how much he was drinking and probably just laughed. Trust me, I've been there.

Let the Greek Community take a lesson from this. See a brother/sister drinking too much? See them passed out with shallow breathing? That shallow breathing is because they're dying of alcohol poisoning. Take your friend to the hospital. Don't worry about insurance/how they will pay/etc....take them immediately. The emergency rooms HAVE to see them by federal law. No matter if they have $1 to their name.

To die from alcohol poisoning you typically have to have a BAC of more than 0.50%. Do you know how many drinks it takes to get a BAC that high??? Someone at SAE saw this happening (unless he was in his room, alone, taking shot after shot after shot after shot). Someone ignored it in the spirit of "having a good time."

Take initiative. Take the bottle away from a brother if he's hitting it too hard that night. A pissed brother is better than a dead brother.

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• Posted by reycurtis on March 11, 2009 at 12:21 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

This is a sad moment for the Jayhawk community. My thoughts and prayers go out to Jasons family, friends, teammates, and fraternity brothers.

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• Posted by jhawklax4 on March 11, 2009 at 2:07 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

I agree on your last comment, I would much rather have a pissed off frat brother then dead one. I am saying education about binge drinking plays a HUGE role in these situations. That goes both ways... People watching and people involved. Banning it will do no good. Look at the dorms. They are "dry" but I have lived in them and know that doesn't really work well, just check any trash can in the dorms lobbies. Drinking is and always will be a part of the college life. Frats will always be associated with drinking. Neither of them have to be bad things. Not to preach too much, but that is the way it is... It is on everyone else to take a life lesson with out "pissing on the electric fence" and learn from extremely tragic things like this.

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• Posted by mkozak on March 11, 2009 at 6:47 a.m.
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Father blames alcohol for student's death

I have a friend that goes to Rolla and is in a fraternity.

One night someone in his frat passed out after drinking a lot of alcohol and hit his head. He was bleeding and a girl at the party called an ambulance.

Guys in that fraternity later gave the girl crap about calling the ambulance because she should have let them "take care of it."

My friend said the way they take care of things is putting them to bed.

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• Posted by jbr00ks9 on March 12, 2009 at 9:18 a.m.
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