Matthew Ellis, a Phi Kappa Psi pledge, died after a fraternity event on Sunday, the latest in a string of similar episodes on campuses across the country.
Texas State University suspended all fraternity and sorority activities on Tuesday, a day after the death of a Phi Kappa Psi pledge — the latest in a string of similar episodes on campuses across the country.
Denise M. Trauth, the university’s president, said in a statement that Greek organizations would be “prohibited from holding new-member events, chapter meetings, social functions and philanthropic activities until a thorough review of the Greek Affairs system is completed.”
Joanne Smith, the vice president for student affairs, will oversee the review and ultimately “propose recommendations for reinstating fraternity and sorority chapters that demonstrate a commitment to the core values of Texas State and the ideals established by their respective national organizations,” Dr. Trauth said.
The Phi Kappa Psi pledge, Matthew Ellis, attended a fraternity event Sunday night and was found unresponsive in an off-campus apartment complex the next morning. The police in San Marcos, Tex., where the university is, said at a news conference on Tuesday that alcohol may have been a factor, but that the cause of death would not be confirmed until toxicology results are available, which could take up to two months.
Mr. Ellis, 20, was a sophomore transfer student studying business.
Phi Kappa Psi members did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through the fraternity’s Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon. Trent Baker, whom the fraternity’s promotional materials list as one of three recruitment captains, declined to comment when reached by phone; the other two captains, Austin Rice and Jake Stewart, did not return calls.
Mr. Ellis’s death and the suspension of Greek activities at Texas State came on the heels of almost identical events at Florida State University. Andrew Coffey, 20, a junior transfer student and Pi Kappa Phi pledge at Florida State, was found dead in off-campus housing in Tallahassee, Fla., on Nov. 3 after a fraternity party the night before, and the university suspended fraternity and sorority activities a few days later.
A similar case at Louisiana State University resulted in the arrests of 10 current and former students last month. They have been charged in the death of Maxwell Gruver, 18, a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning after a hazing ritual at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Mr. Gruver’s blood alcohol content was .496 percent, an extraordinary level: Most people begin to black out at .200, and .400 can be fatal.
And on Monday, the day Mr. Ellis died in Texas, a district attorney in Pennsylvania charged 10 more students in the death of Timothy Piazza, a Beta Theta Pi pledge at Penn State. Eighteen students had already been charged after Mr. Piazza, 19, died in February. Investigators found that he had been given at least 18 alcoholic drinks in less than two hours at a fraternity party, and video showed him repeatedly falling down a flight of stairs, resulting in a fractured skull and ruptured spleen.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 1,800 college students ages 18 to 24 die each year as a result of drinking, including from alcohol-related car crashes.
