MIT death refocuses attention on student drinking
Cambridge, MA (AP 10/1/97)

The death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman after a night of binge drinking at a fraternity party has renewed criticism that universities fall short at enforcing alcohol restrictions.

Scott Krueger, 18, of Orchard Park, NY, was found unconscious in his basement room at an MIT fraternity house surrounded by vomit and empty liquor bottles. He was in a coma for three days before he died at a hospital.

His blood alcohol level had reached 0.41% - five times the legal limit for drivers in MA, his parents said.

Krueger was the second U.S. college student to die from an alcohol overdose this semester. In August, a student at Louisiana State University died after a night of drinking.

School officials said Krueger had attended a fraternity party where alcohol was served. He died Monday.

Police launched a criminal investigation and licensing authorities charged the Boston fraternity with serving alcohol to minors, allowing an alcohol overdose and other violations.

MIT suspended the fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, from participating in campus social activities. Other MIT fraternities agreed to ban alcohol indefinitely and the school planned an alcohol education campaign.

But several students said they had been offered beer at Phi Gamma during the freshman summer rush week, despite existing university regulations that banned alcohol at the event.

Officers of the MIT chapter and the fraternity's national headquarters declined to comment.

Dr. Henry Wechsler, who directs Harvard's Dept. of Health and Social Behavior, said fraternities that repeatedly violate alcohol policies should be shut down.