College junior in critical condition after fall at frat

[Li En Tan/The Daily Pennsylvanian] The Psi Upsilon fraternity house was the site of College junior Matthew Paris' critical fall early yesterday morning. The incident occurred during a registered party.

A College junior and Pi Kappa Alpha brother was critically injured at a University-registered party early yesterday morning at the Psi Upsilon fraternity house. He remains in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's Intensive Care Unit.

At 1:59 a.m., police responded to a 911 call from the fraternity house known as the Castle -- located at 36th Street and Locust Walk -- where they found Matthew Paris "in immediate need of medical attention," said Maureen Rush, vice president of public safety. Paris had fallen two stories from the second floor to the basement of the building.

Intensive care is continuing at the hospital, where Paris -- who turned 21 yesterday -- was joined by his parents from Medford, N.J., shortly after he was admitted.

Most of the details surrounding Paris' fall remain unclear, but Rush said that "there was no foul play ... no horseplay or pushing or anything like that" involved in the accident. Officials would not comment on whether alcohol was involved in the incident.

However, Engineering sophomore Kyle Newman, who was in attendance at the party, said that Paris had been drinking shots of alcohol, and had made 21 marks on his arm, denoting the number of shots he had taken over the course of the night.

Several sources said that Paris had been consuming vodka.

College freshman Eric Wrigley, who was on an upper floor of the house, said that someone entered the room he was in and said, "You have to come down here -- some guy fell off the banister." When he went downstairs to leave, Wrigley said that he saw Paris lying on the ground, adding that "he looked pretty lifeless."

While Paris' condition is listed as critical, he has improved since he entered the hospital, according to InterFraternity Council President Conor O'Callaghan, a Wharton and Engineering senior.

Neither HUP nor University officials would release the details of Paris' injuries, citing patient privacy laws.

The fraternity brothers released an official statement in the wake of the incident. "In this unfortunate time, the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha would like to express our sincerest thoughts and prayers to Matt Paris and his family. Matt is an outstanding asset to this fraternity, University and community; we can only wish him the best for a speedy and full recovery. We would ask that everyone keep Matt and his family in mind during this difficult period."

Fraternity and sorority presidents met yesterday to discuss the situation with officials from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

The group decided to enact a social freeze for all Greek organizations for the next two weeks, according to correspondence sent within chapter houses. When the freeze is lifted for the week of Oct. 4, which coincides with Greek Week, individual houses will still not be allowed to have parties or events, according to one e-mail.

In 2001, the Castle was put on probation for two years, and brothers were prohibited from holding alcoholic events at their house until last fall. This party, however, was held within the University guidelines for parties on campus, according to Anthony Cambeiro, president of the trustees for Psi Upsilon of Philadelphia.

"We are profoundly distressed with this incident that occurred at the Psi Upsilon house ... and our heart goes out to Matthew Paris and his family. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery," he said.

A similar incident occurred at Penn in 1999, when Class of '94 College alumnus Michael Tobin, a brother of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, was found dead outside the fraternity's house after a fall.

Tobin's family sued the University, claiming that officials had not kept the house well-repaired. The FIJI fraternity was disbanded and has not returned to campus.

Comments (20)

While I feel horrible for Mr. Paris and his family, this incident shows that Penn's "four or fewer" program simply does not work. It was put in place in response to the Tobin incident in 1999. Clearly if something similar happened again in 2004 the program needs to be revisited, revised and hopefully thrown out. Making light of the pervasive alcohol problem on campus through cartoons is not the answer. Hopefully a sobering (no pun intended) incident like this one will help some Penn students learn to drink less and help guide the administration towards a more proactive alcohol policy. JAB, Penn Alumnus Columbus, OH

Good thing the legal drinking age is set at 21. It seems to have allowed this guy to develop a really healthy attitude towards alcohol consumption. Armand Tanzerian, grunt philadelphia

Penn students and their colleagues around the world have been abusing alcohol since Ben Franklin thought an institution of higher learning in Philadelphia would be a nifty idea. While University regulation helps, in the end nothing will stop smart people from doing dumb things like getting intoxicated and hurting themselves and others.While a hangover is fleeting, sometimes the consequences are sadly permanent. But don't beat up the University over it. C'71 Alum

No matter where you are, Ivy League school or high school, people will drink. The fault lies with the victim and his friends. There is no excuse for not knowing (at that age, or at age 15) that such a high number of shots would get you in trouble. As a friend once put it, "friends don't let friends drink and DIE." AA

While this incident is unfortunate, the blame lies entirely with Matthew in this event. While some are quick to try and implicate the castle, they did everything by protocol. The party was registered, the victim was 21, he just had too much. Unless there is a rule that the party hosts must play bartender and cut someone off when they've had too much, it is the responsibility of Matthew (and his friends) to stay safe. Taking 21 shots in 90 minutes is not safe. No matter how many stories you hear of people who do the same stupid stunt, people just don't seem to get it. Jason, Student

No one should be so quick to place blame or fault on anyone in this case. It was a bizarre, tragic accident, and pointing fingers to any party will not remedy the matter, especially if you did not witness the incident. It may be cathartic (to some), or it may be self-righteous to say "it is Matt's fault" or "the Castle is to blame", or any number of fathomable explanations for why this happened. However, we all share the hope for Matt's recovery, and the sooner this happens, the sooner we can all move forward from this dark day. Please, everyone, try to extend your best wishes and prayers to Matt and the Paris family, as opposed to self-righteous diatribes from your perspective, however close you feel to the matter. Positivity will prove a greater boon than blame. C.J.

What is the point or benefit of attempting to lay blame in such an unfortunate incident, especially when Matt is unable to respond? I can assuredly say that Matt is an amazing guy and great friend, well respected and liked throughout campus. Let's not devolve this discussion into a crass and base argument about the legalities behind alcohol consumption. Such an accident could have happened to most of us--Most of us as students, of age (like Matt) or not, consider alcohol an integral part of the college experience. You're parents know it, the University knows it, and everyone in the college community knows it. It's just a shame that such a bad thing happened to such a good person. Keep on praying for, and thinking of, Matt. somebody who cares, student Penn

Yes ... Praying for Matt's complete recovery is something we should all continue to do. And we should also keep the good brothers at Psi Upsilon in our thoughts and prayers. It is good to hear that they did all the right things; we have to hope that The Castle comes through this incident OK as well. Colonel, Student Penn

First and foremost I want to wish Matt a full recovery. There has been much back and forth about whether or not Psi Upsilon can/should/will be held responsible for what happened to Matt. Legal responsibility lies with Matt, the organization at who's function this happened (Psi Upsilon, aka Castle), and ultimately the University, who owns the property. As to whether or not the Fraternity in question has violated any alcohol policies, it was a registered party with (to my knowledge) all the required provisions against underage and excessive drinking (i.e. bouncers, bartenders). If, however, it is true that Matt had 21 shots of hard alcohol, and it is also true that he consumed any of that hard liquor at the Castle, then their legal protection is gone. The extra insurance that having a "registered" party gets you is null if you violate the terms of the contract, one of which is to serve ONLY cans/bottles of beer and/or glasses of wine served by a University-sanctioned bartender. If it turns out that Matt was taking vodka shots in someone's room upstairs, that could mean big trouble for the Castle. C, C'06

Let's see how the new President handles this. Judith Rodin did all she could to dismantle fraternities in her tenure. Know why all the fraternities were on the walk, such prime real estate? Because back in the day trolleys ran down woodland to Locust which was a public st. It was actually a not a great location. After the walk and woodland were closed, fraternities occupied some of the best space on campus. Rodin spent years removing fraternities one by one. Fiji was blackmailed into leaving one of the best houses in the world after Tobin fell because campus police probably found sh*t in there and cut a deal with them to give up the charter in lieu of prosecutiuon. When I was at Penn, a 5'7 135# fellow lightweight football player guy gained 40 pounds of muscle in about 6 months, starts with STER doesn't end iin ERO. And Scott refikowski "Mr Leather 2000" is also suspect. An openly gay "leather daddy" running the fraternity system is somewhat suspect. Adair Colby, Real Estate Investor WH'99 Chicago/Charlotte, NC prothunderball2001@yahoo.com

This is not about blame; it is important to know what and who was involved in this unfortunate incident in order to understand how something like this could be prevented in the future. This particular student clearly shares some of the responsibility for allowing himself to get in such a state, as does the fraternity. It is very important to understand the culture of these fraternities so as to prevent more such incidents from happening. Rev. Cherrycoke, student Penn

When your school's motto is "It's OK not to drink," something like this is inevitable. For some strange reason, this school promotes drinking like nothing I've ever seen (in the form of... Yes, you're going to drink [already isolating non-drinkers], but don't drink TOO much). This comes as no surprise. your friend

he's right, we should ban alcohol... We'll call it "prohibition," and it will work flawlessly. Just like our "war on drugs." Hell, let's start a "war on straight-edge kids," with our current track record in attempting to ban things, it will probably end up turning the campus voluntarily dry.. John

I'm not so concerned about the legal liability issues (I'll leave that up to the fraternity and Penn General Counsel) as the ethical issue. Yes, the student in question made his own choices, and some of them might not have been good choices. Yes, I feel bad for him and his family. And no, I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what happened. But...why didn't one of his fraternity brothers come up at a certain point and say, "Hey, cool it. That's not how we do things here. Why don't you go to bed and sleep things off?" The answer from the outside: because that IS how we do things here. Paul Heiney, Professor U. Penn heiney@sas.upenn.edu

This might be the wrong place to post this inquiry, as it is not primarily concerned with finding fault, pointing fingers, or making blanket statements about the social/drinking climate at University of Pennsylvania. I am actually concerned with Matt's welfare. I was wondering if there is anyone who has managed to sort through this (at the current time) irrelevant and uninformed banter and might know more details about Matt's condition. I hope to God that he is being strong and his condition is improving. If anyone could post an update--anyone who knows anything about how he is doing---some of us (the ones not shaking with anticipation of lawsuits and lost charters) would really like to know. You and your family are in my prayers, Matt. MW, Student

To Paul, You can't really blame his frat brothers. For one thing, he wasn't in his own frat when this happened. For the other thing, everyone was pretty much drinking and we can't all be worrying about how much everyone else had to drink. The point is there was no foul play involved and as a result, there is no reason to point fingers. It only ends up hurting people. Soph

To MW, and all others concerned, Matt is "okay." The damages are pretty bad, but definitely not as severe as they could have been. He'll be okay, just needs to get through these next couple weeks. The papers will probably list his specific injuries soon, but it's not my place to say them here. Keep praying matt's condition, friend

To Matt's Condition: Thank you for letting us know that it's not as severe as it could have been. That is reassuring. I only know Matt through friends and classes -- so it is not my place to ask for personal details, but enough that I am extremely concerned about his recovery. The email that the school sent out made his situation sound like he still might either live or die... We are all praying for you, Matt. P.E.

People drink excessively all the time. I would encourage all the people who are espousing anti-alcohol sentiments in the wake of this to shut up. People drink when they want to; they'll always find a way despite restrictions. So, the point is to make sure parties are thrown safely and efficiently. This sort of thing would never happen at my house because we take responsibility for our actions and the people we let drink in our house. We throw ridiculous parties that are also ridiculously safe. By watching the level of intoxication of your guests, controlling the output of alcohol, and taking care of those who need it, you avoid problems like this. Freak accidents do happen, yes, but they can be prevented. That doesn't mean you prohibit alcohol further, or damage the Fraternity system, which carries the social scene on campus on its back. The bottle line is the Castle squandered their newly found freedom from probation. If they get in trouble for this, I will not be surprised. The kid took shots (not allowed) and the party was going on past two (not allowed). If you're going to do illegal things at a registered party, make sure you're accountable for what is going on. I had heard initially that the police were called at 2:17, which is past the allowed time of 2 for registered parties. Yet I find it all too convenient this article lists the time as 1:59. I would not be surprised if there are some serious details from this story missing that will probably never escape the memories of a few Castle asses and witnesses sworn to secrecy. However, that is unnecessary speculation and I certainly wish all my best to Matt, and his family and friends. Endless Summer? Endless Probation., Student A Better Fraternity

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