The Old Dominion University chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity closed Friday, one and a half months after the alcohol-related death of a freshman pledge.
Terry Stirling, 19, died the morning of Dec. 1 after a night of drinking. Stirling began drinking at a bar with friends at 9:30 p.m., then went to his off-campus fraternity house and continued to drink until about midnight. Friends discovered Stirling dead the next morning.
No students have been charged legally or reprimanded by the school, but future disciplinary action against students is possible, said Dana Burnett, the vice president for student services at Old Dominion.
The national office of Alpha Tau Omega withdrew recognition of the fraternity following Stirling's death. The school then closed the chapter.
"We do not recognize fraternities that are not nationally affiliated," Burnett said.
ATO nationals refused to comment.
Stirling's death certainly caused his friends to be more careful with alcohol, but "for those who didn't know him, alcohol abuse goes on," Burnett said.
Full details of the investigation of Stirling's death have not yet been released.
Last April, a blindfolded, handcuffed University of Georgia ATO pledge riding in the cargo area of a sports utility vehicle was killed when the SUV hit a tree. University of Georgia officials suspended the chapter for hazing. Following the incident, the ATO chapter disbanded.
University Senior Assoc. Dean of Students V. Shamim Sisson said the last time a fraternity member died from an alcohol-related incident at the University was about six years ago.
Pi Kappa Phi member Brian Cook died when a fellow fraternity brother who was giving him a ride home from a rush event at a mountain cabin swerved and struck a tree. Sisson said alcohol was involved. The University moved to hold the fraternity accountable but did not close the chapter.
The last time a fraternity pledge was killed in a hazing-related incident at the University was in 1991, Sisson said.
Gregory Batipps was driving home from a pledge event at Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black Fraternal Council member fraternity, when he fell asleep at the wheel and drove off the road, she said.
During an investigation, it was discovered that Batipps had been hazed all week, and the University and the Alpha Phi Alpha nationals closed the chapter for four years. They since have re-colonized successfully.
Asst. Dean of Students Aaron Laushway said the University expects each fraternity and sorority to follow its National Risk Management Policies as stipulated in the Fraternal Organization Agreement - the document setting forth the relationship between a fraternity, the University and the IFC.
There are no University regulations specifically regarding pledging a fraternity, but all University fraternities and sororities are prohibited from hazing by their national rules, Laushway said.
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