After lapsing into coma, M.I.T. freshman dies from over-drinking at fraternity event

Three days after lapsing into an alcohol-induced coma, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman, hospitalized for over-drinking at a fraternity event, died Monday night, the second such fatality this academic year. Scott Krueger, 18, of Orchard Park, N.Y., was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m. Monday after his parents terminated his life support, according to a written release from M.I.T. He had been hospitalized following a night of heavy drinking at the school's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. Krueger's FIJI fraternity brothers found him unconscious near midnight Friday, and after being treated on the scene by paramedics and firefighters, Krueger was rushed to Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center early Saturday morning. The Harvard Crimson reported that Krueger was hospitalized with a blood-alcohol level of .41, about five times higher than the legal limit for drivers in the state. The student's mother, Darlene Krueger, told The Associated Press that her son had been taking part in a fraternity event before lapsing into the coma. "They told me it was a party where little [fraternity] brothers were paired off with brothers," she said. "The freshmen had to drink a certain amount of alcohol collectively." M.I.T. and FIJI's national leadership suspended the chapter pending an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Krueger's death by Cambridge, Mass., police, according to Bill Martin, a spokesperson for the fraternity's national headquarters. Autopsy and toxicology tests will be performed on Krueger's body, but the tests do not imply that foul play is suspected, Cambridge Police Department Sgt. Margot Hill said in a statement. The results should be available in three or four weeks, she added. Krueger's death is the second drinking-related death in a fraternity house this academic year. Louisiana State University student Benjamin Wynne died in September after consuming numerous drinks at a Sigma Alpha Epsilon event. On Sunday, M.I.T.'s InterFraternity Council voted unanimously to "voluntarily cancel all events in which alcohol is involved until all Fraternity, Sorority and Independent Living Group and IFC risk management policies have been reviewed." Iddo Gilon, the head of M.I.T.'s InterFraternity Council, was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Labeling Krueger's death a "terrible tragedy," M.I.T. President Charles Vest pledged Tuesday to "redouble our efforts to educate our community about the risks and consequences involved in drinking and do all that we can to see that this kind of tragedy never happens again," according to a written release. But a M.I.T. spokesperson refused to comment on Krueger's death, saying only that "we're using this as a time of reflection." The death sparked a furor on the M.I.T. campus, with many students questioning how such an incident could occur at the school. "It's interesting how people think a place like M.I.T. would be immune to [alcohol-related deaths]," M.I.T. junior Lauren Daniels said. Although M.I.T.'s FIJI chapter is unable to hold any fraternity activities, "social or otherwise," until further notice, brothers in the fraternity house "will continue to live there and to take their meals there," Martin said.

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