A Texas State University fraternity pledge has died - continuing the alarming trend of deaths at public university fraternities
- A 20-year-old Texas State University fraternity pledge died Monday.
- Texas State suspended all Greek organization activities.
- It is the fourth fraternity pledge to die in 2017.
Texas State University on Tuesday suspended the activities of all Greek organizations following the death of a pledge - the second such death at a college fraternity in a month, and the fourth this year.
Matthew Ellis, 20, died on November 13 following an initiation into his fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, The University Star reported. An investigation is currently underway, but preliminary findings indicated that alcohol may have played a role in his death.
Texas State President Denise Trauth emailed the community following Ellis' death, announcing the suspension of all Greek activities pending a review.
"As a result of this tragedy, I have suspended activities of all Greek fraternity and sorority chapters at Texas State," Trauth wrote, according to The University Star. "These chapters are prohibited from holding new-member events, chapter meetings, social functions and philanthropic activities until a thorough review of the Greek Affairs system is completed."
The scene appears all too familiar. Earlier in November, Florida State University indefinitely suspended the activities of all Greek organizations following the death of a pledge and the arrest of a fraternity member on charges of drug trafficking.
In September, a Louisiana State University freshman named Maxwell Gruver, 18, died after participating in a fraternity hazing game where he had to drink alcohol when he answered a question incorrectly, The New York Times reported.
And after a Penn State sophomore named Timothy Piazza, 19, died in February after a fraternity hazing event, university officials suspended fraternities and sororities from holding social activities during the spring semester. The Penn State Board of Trustees also passed a package of new rules designed to change Greek life.
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