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Utah State University is forming a task force to take a closer look at what all student groups are doing. It's in response to a young man's death from alcohol poisoning.
Many Greek activities are secret affairs. In the past, USU could only hope members were obeying the college and national chapters' rules about hazing and binge drinking.
But after Michael Starks died drinking to get into a fraternity, USU officials say they have to get involved. They want to make sure no other student dies in a similar way.
USU spokesman John DeVilbiss told KSL, "We all along have enforced our student code policy in the best way we felt we could, and disciplinary processes are something we will look at again to see if there's anything we can do differently."
"This has been such a traumatic loss for us and it begs the question, is there anything else we could do to prevent this from happening again," he added.
He says the school hopes to have new policies in place by the summer, and ready to implement next fall semester.
"This is quite an involved process and it's going to take some time. We want to do this right," he said.
The task force will look at how other schools try to stop hazing and alcohol abuse. It also will review all campus student groups, not just the fraternities and sororities.
Twelve people were charged last week for providing alcohol and encouraging Starks to drink.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
