LITTLE ROCK — A 19-year-old student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville was hospitalized Saturday with possible alcohol poisoning after receiving a bid that morning to become a fraternity pledge.
The male student was released from Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville sometime Monday, said Lt. Gary Crain of the UA Police Department.
University police will investigate the case to determine if the alcohol incident was a violation of the state law regarding hazing, which falls under Arkansas Code Annotated 6-5-201 through 6-5-203, Crain said.
Police plan to interview the student today, Crain said. His name hasn’t been released.
Crain said the student was transported to the hospital by a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, which is at 360 Arkansas Ave.
Scott Flanagin, a spokesman for the university’s Division of Student Affairs, said about 180 pledges received bids Saturday morning from UA fraternities after a formal recruitment period.
“I believe he was joining the fraternity that day,” Flanagin said. “That was bid day.”
Students can become fraternity members after a semester or so as a pledge, depending on the situation.
Bids were given about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Flanagin said. By 3:30 p.m., a hospital employee called UA police to notify them of the possible alcohol poisoning.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 3-3-202, it’s against the law to furnish any kind of alcoholic beverage to a person under age 21. Doing so would be a misdemeanor for a first conviction and a felony for a second offense within three years.
Flanagin said whatever took place after the distribution of bids Saturday morning “was not an official registered function” of the fraternity or UA.
Flanagin said the UA’s Office of Student Standards & Conduct would likely investigate the situation, as would Greek Life, within the Division of Student Affairs.
“Correct disciplinary action will be taken,” he said.
Brian C. Warren Jr., executive director of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity nationally, said that the chapter has “suspended all operations” pending the outcome of an investigation by fraternity officials and alumni volunteers.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the member, his family and his friends through his recovery,” Warren said in a prepared release.
B. Andrew Speed, president of the Arkansas Alumni Corporation of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he was also concerned about the student who was admitted to the hospital.
“The safety and well-being of our members is of paramount importance,” Speed said in a prepared statement.
Some students want rules to protect them if they report emergency alcohol-related incidents.
J.R. Baxter, a UA junior from Benton, said he’s concerned that students are reluctant to call for police or an ambulance when there’s an alcohol overdose because the caller could be punished for violating the UA’s alcohol policies.
Baxter was an Associated Student Government senator last year when he filed a resolution asking UA administrators to provide “medical amnesty” for students who call for help under those circumstances. The resolution passed overwhelmingly, he said, but it’s only symbolic, letting UA administrators know how the students feel.
“The philosophy behind it is nobody should ever be scared to call for help, and I think right now they are,” said Baxter, a political science and history major.
Baxter said disciplinary actions against students who violate the campus alcohol policies include expulsion, suspension, counseling classes, fines or community service. Flanagin verified that those punishments were possible.
Baxter said UA’s Faculty Senate could take up the cause or administrators could pass a new rule providing medical amnesty.
Baxter, who is no longer a student senator, said he said he’ll ask another senator to propose a similar resolution again this year. Baxter said the amnesty would be granted to the person in need of help or to a “Good Samaritan” making the telephone call.
“It wouldn’t protect hazing-related incidents, only the alcohol portion,” Baxter said.
A hazing ritual at a UA fraternity in 2009 almost took the life of Nicholas Brown, according to a lawsuit he filed against some members of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Brown claims four fraternity members forced him to drink alcohol almost to the point of fatal poisoning in November 2009, when he was 18 years old. His blood alcohol level was 0.68, almost eight times the legal limit, according to the lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court. The case is still ongoing. The UA chapter’s charter was suspended by the national Phi Delta Theta fraternity from December 2009 to January 2011.
Other universities have adopted medical amnesty policies.
At Clemson University in South Carolina, it’s called the Medical Alcohol Amnesty Policy and is included in the student handbook. It states that students seeking help for someone having an alcohol-related emergency won’t be charged or sanctioned for violating university policy and won’t be “referred for prosecution” on the state, federal or local level related to the consumption or supplying of alcohol.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/26/2013