August 3, 2007 - Rider Response to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Investigation

To the Rider University Community,

I want to inform you that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced today, August 3, 2007, that a grand jury charged three Rider students, who were Phi Kappa Tau members, and two Rider staff with aggravated hazing, a fourth degree offense.  The five individuals are Adriano DiDonato; Dominic Olsen and Michael Tourney; Anthony Campbell, Dean of Students; and Ada Badgley, Director of Greek Life.  The investigation was conducted following Gary DeVercelly’s tragic alcohol poisoning death on March 30.  University officials and students cooperated fully with the Prosecutor’s Office and the Lawrence Township Police in their investigation.  We take this matter very seriously and will carefully evaluate these charges and determine appropriate steps to be taken.

With respect to the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, the facts uncovered during the investigation indicate that dangerous underage drinking occurred at an unregistered party in the fraternity house, resulting in the death of a student.  Consequently, we have dissolved the Phi Kappa Tau chapter on our campus.

This has been a most painful time for the DeVercelly family and the University; we continue to extend our sympathy to Gary’s family. Alcohol abuse by college students is a national challenge. We are doing everything in our power to prevent it, as evidenced by my acceptance of all the recommendations detailed in the June 19, 2007 report of the Presidential Task Force on Alcohol, Personal Responsibility, and Student Life. I'm confident that these recommendations, many of which will be implemented by the fall semester, will help us become an even stronger, safer, and healthier learning community.

We must continue to work together as a community to try to ensure that nothing like this tragedy happens again on either of our campuses.  This means continuing our open communications in dealing with this situation and in educating our community on both campuses about the dangers of alcohol misuse and abuse.

Mordechai Rozanski
President
Rider University