BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — An investigation is ongoing after five CU Boulder students in a fraternity were hospitalized and legal action is a possibility moving forward.
The Boulder Police Department continues its investigation after several college students were sent to the hospital after a fraternity party over the weekend. Police originally said the fraternity members had taken tainted drugs, but now they’ve said it was extreme alcohol consumption.
FOX31 legal analyst Chris Decker said the individuals involved could be sued by the injured parties, but as far as action against the fraternity itself, it gets tricky since they have no official association with the university itself.
“It’s very possible this event could be the final straw for this fraternity house operating under the Kappa Sigma Fraternity,” Decker said.
They do have a national charter, but no association with the university. According to CU, Kappa Sigma was expelled from their Interfraternity Council in 2015 due to safety and welfare violations.
“They were part of the independent Interfraternity council on the hill up until five years ago, another group of Greeks with no university oversight. After some conduct issues, they’ve been completely separate. Kappa Sigma is a chartered fraternity. Kappa Sigma National has given them a charter to operate in Boulder and the national chapter could suspend that if they deem that appropriate, or the local chapter could choose to shut down on their own,” Decker said.
Decker said there may be administrative action taken against the students since technically the university’s code of conduct was broken with the drug use or the University could petition the National Fraternities Association and ask them to pull the charter.
He also felt if hazing was part of this, lawsuits could be coming. Boulder PD detectives said they’re still investigating if that’s the case.
“These are individuals that made individual choices unless there was evidence that someone was forcing them to participate in this. Or they would need to prove that the notional chapter was aware and recklessly disregarded the risk that these types of behaviors were ongoing,” Decker said.
FOX31 reached out to national representatives with Kappa Sigma and has yet to hear back.
