Student’s family settles suit in Penn State death

The family of a Penn State student who died following a night of heavy drinking has settled its lawsuit against a national fraternity that called Timothy Piazza’s death one of the “darkest hours” in its 179-year history.

A lawyer for Piazza’s family said monetary issues and some other details won’t be revealed, but Tom Kline did release a 17-point summary of the agreement with Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

The settlement requires, among other things, that Beta chapter houses nationwide be alcoholfree by August 2020. It also requires the national fraternity to support the proposed Timothy J. Piazza Antihazing Law in Pennsylvania that would provide for fines of up to $15,000 and imprisonment of up to seven years for hazing that causes serious injury. “The settlement represents a unique, cooperative agreement and is an outgrowth of the determined dedication by Jim and Evelyn Piazza to the cause of preventing hazing injury and death in Greek life in the future,” Kline said.

S. Wayne Kay, general secretary and chairman of the national fraternity, called Piazza’s death “one of the greatest disappointments and darkest hours” in the history of Beta Theta Pi.

“It is heartbreaking and numbing to know our former members let Tim and his family down in such a tragic way,” Kay said. “There will never be enough words to describe the pain they feel, and Betas everywhere join with me in expressing our shared anger and sorrow that this could have happened in our fraternity.”

The settlement came as hundreds of fraternity houses across the nation unveiled a plan to ban fraternity members from serving hard liquor. The selfgoverning policy announced this week, in the wake of growing outrage

The death was “one of the greatest disappointments and darkest hours” in the history of Beta Theta Pi. S. Wayne Kay General secretary and chairman of the national fraternity

over alcohol-related hazing deaths, effectively stops most of the nation’s fraternities from doling out strong booze unless it is served by a licensed, thirdparty vendor.

The North-American Interfraternity Conference said the new policy, effective next September, was reached in a near-unanimous vote affecting more than 6,100 chapters on 800 campuses.

Piazza was 19 when he died at a hospital Feb. 4, 2017, two days after a drinking party at the fraternity house. A grand jury report issued a few months later concluded that fraternity members were indifferent to clear signs that Piazza was in trouble, then later engaged in a vigorous effort to conceal evidence of hazing and underage drinking.

A doctor calculated that Piazza’s blood-alcohol content at the time he fell down the stairs was .28 to .36 percent, the report said. That’s about four times the legal limit for driving. Doctors concluded Piazza suffered from multiple traumatic brain injuries, including a fractured skull and a lacerated spleen.

Piazza died as a direct result of “extremely reckless conduct” of members of the Beta fraternity, aided by the permissive atmosphere fostered by Penn State’s Interfraternity Council, the grand jury found. More than two dozen fraternity members and pledges were charged with counts ranging from hazing to involuntary manslaughter. Many of the charges have been dropped or thrown out, and several cases are still winding through the court system.

Beta Executive Director Jeff Rundle said the national fraternity was focused on “re-evaluating local chapter cultures.”

Timothy Piazza