MORGANTOWN — Eighteen WVU students were disciplined — three agreeing to leave the university — following an investigation into the November fall of another student at a fraternity house.
WVU released that information Tuesday morning and also said David Rusko has been hospitalized since the Nov. 10 incident.
WVU Spokesman John Bolt told The Dominion Post in an email exchange WVU Student Conduct and University Police conducted an internal investigation.
As previously reported, Rusko, a senior finance major from Uniontown, Pa., fell down steps at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, where he was visiting with fellow fraternity brothers after the Texas Christian University football game. He was rendered unconscious and, during the investigation, it was discovered two hours elapsed between his fall and medical help being sought.
Rusko was first taken to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hosptial. On Tuesday, WVU said he was recently transferred to Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga.
“Three West Virginia University students have agreed to permanent separation from the university as a result of an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fall of a student and its aftermath at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in November,” a release from WVU read.
Asked if that punishment amounts to an expulsion for the three, Bolt replied, “as part of an agreement upon resolution, these three students agreed to a voluntarily permanent separation from the university. This means that they are no longer students of this institution and cannot return to be students at the institution in the future.”
In addition, the release indicates about 15 students agreed to other disciplinary actions, ranging from deferred suspension to probation, stemming from related Student Conduct Code violations, including aiding and abetting as well as endangerment. Under the deferred suspension agreements, any further violations of the Code during their time at WVU could result in other sanctions, up to and including expulsion.
Not all of the disciplined students are fraternity members, according to the university.
The chapter, which has a total of 52 members, remains on interim suspension.
There were other students at SAE that night.
“However, [those disciplined] were the ones identified through the investigation that the university believed had some level of responsibility for what occurred,” Bolt said.
Citing federal privacy regulations, WVU said no other information regarding the students or their identities would be released.
These charges are in addition to, and distinct from, any charges that might arise from a separate investigation by the Morgantown Police Department, according to WVU.
Morgantown Communications Manager Andrew Stacy told The Dominion Post the city police department was not involved in an investigation.
“This incident occurred in the “Cooperative Zone,” which allows the WVUPD to have policing authority and municipal code enforcement authority in this area,” Stacy wrote in an email.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was not among the five fraternities that dissociated from the university last semester. SAE was recognized in good standing following the implementation of the Reaching the Summit plan — a WVU-led initiative to reform Greek Life.
The organization was placed on suspension following Rusko’s fall.
