Death at Rider prompts new task force

Examination of campus alcohol use and abuse ordered by university president

By: Lea Kahn
   LAWRENCE— In the wake of the death of a Rider University freshman from alcohol poisoning, Rider University President Mordechai Rozanski plans to appoint a task force to examine the school’s policies on the use and abuse of alcohol.
   The task force will include faculty, staff, administrators, students and alumni, Dr. Rozanski said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon. The first meeting of the 20-plus member task force is slated for next week. The task force’s recommendations are expected to be in place for the fall 2007 semester, he said.
   The task force came from the death of 18-year-old Gary DeVercelly, who died of alcohol poisoning following an evening of binge drinking at the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house on the school’s Lawrence Township campus. Mr. DeVercelly was taken to Capital Health System’s Fuld Campus on March 29 after he had lost consciousness. He died the next day.
   An autopsy conducted at the Mercer County Morgue by Deputy Medical Examiner Daksha Shah on March 31 determined the cause of death to be alcohol intoxication, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County prosecutor’s office. Mr. DeVercelly had a blood alcohol content of .426 — five times the limit set by New Jersey for motorists. A driver who registers a blood alcohol content of .08 is deemed to be driving while intoxicated.
   The prosecutor’s office and the Lawrence Township Police Department obtained search warrants and went through the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house March 29, Ms. DeBlasio said. Bottles of alcohol were taken from the fraternity house by the investigators, she said.
   Meanwhile, the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity has been placed on administrative suspension, pending the outcome of the investigation into Mr. DeVercelly’s death by the prosecutor’s office and the Police Department, Dr. Rozanski said. This means the fraternity can hold business meetings, but no social events.
   Dr. Rozanski said the President’s Task Force, led by Donald Steven, the school’s provost and assistant vice president for academic affairs, will review and assess the school’s policies on the use and abuse of alcohol, enforcement, education, outreach and Greek life, as well as the issue of individual and group responsibility.
   "The task force will make recommendations to the president on policies, programs and actions that will materially protect the health and safety of the university community insofar as it is affected by the misuse of alcohol," Dr. Rozanski said.
   "I have tremendous confidence (in the task force)," the school president said. "We have good policies — enforcement policies and educational policies. (But) no policy can guarantee how it will actually operate on the ground."
   Alcohol abuse on college campuses is a "national scourge and a national problem," he said. In the past couple of weeks, Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that half of all college students engage in binge drinking, which is drinking liquor for the sake of getting drunk, adding the center estimates about 1,400 college students die each year from alcohol-related incidents.
   "None of those statistics absolves any of us from our responsibility to do something for our students," Dr. Rozanski said. "We have to deal with the problem here at Rider and make sure a tragedy such as this never occurs at Rider again."
   Rider University is not the only area college faced with the issue of alcohol abuse. Eight miles away at Princeton University, the Ivy League school has been cracking down on underage drinking in recent years, said Princeton University spokesman Cass Cliatt.
   In the 2004-05 school year — the most recent statistics available from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students — 72 students received disciplinary action for alcohol-related incidents and seven received warnings. In 2003-04, 71 students received disciplinary action and 12 received warnings.
   "We have been aware for quite some time about the possibility of this happening if people didn’t take responsibility for their drinking," Ms. Cliatt said of Princeton.
   Rider University has a raft of policies that address the use of alcohol on campus. The issue is addressed in freshman seminars and at orientation for new students and freshmen. School policy does not permit students under 21 to possess, use or purchase beer, wine or hard liquor, nor may they have it in their dormitory rooms. Students who are 21 may have alcoholic beverages in their dorm rooms.
   Dean of Students Anthony Campbell said the school has a "three strikes and you’re out" policy regarding alcohol use and abuse. A first offender may be fined $25 and given five hours of community restitution. A second offense means a fine of up to $50 plus 10 hours of community restitution and possible parental notification. A third offense triggers a fine of up to $200 plus removal from on-campus housing, parental notification and mandatory substance abuse counseling, he said.
   Lawrence Township has an ordinance that prohibits underage persons from drinking alcohol on private property, police Lt. Thomas Ritter said. Since November 2001, the Police Department has been called to the Rider University campus 85 times for instances in which a summons was issued for violating the township ordinance, he said.
Packet Staff Writer Courtney Gross contributed to this story.