RIT suspends frat pending investigation

From: WROC, NY - Nov 6, 2003

A fraternity at the Rochester Institute of Technology has been suspended while police investigate the death of a student at a western New York park.

Officials at R.I.T. have suspended the Kappa Phi Theta fraternity pending the outcome of the investigation into the death of Jerry Hopkins at Allegany State Park this past Sunday.

RIT Communications Director Bob Finnerty says the suspension is a routine step in matters such as these.

Authorities say the 36-year-old Hopkins died while staying with frat members in a cabin at the park, located near Salamanca, on the Pennsylvania line 60 miles south of Buffalo.

Hopkins never woke up Sunday morning and died on the way to a hospital in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

He was a student with RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and a member of the frat for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

College officials say the frat apparently didn't get proper authorization for the outing. State park police aren't elaborating on Hopkins' death and are awaiting toxicology tests.

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