Parents settle lawsuit against Utah State University in fraternity hazing death

LOGAN — The parents of a Utah State University student who died of alcohol poisoning in a 2008 fraternity hazing incident have settled their lawsuit against the school.

George and Jane Starks alleged that USU failed to prevent the kind of initiation ceremony in which their 18-year-old son, Michael Starks, died on Nov. 21, 2008 while rushing the Sigma Nu fraternity. They agreed to drop the wrongful death suit if the school would take steps to combat hazing and alcohol and drug abuse.

Michael Starks was bound with cords, body-painted and forced to drink vodka during the off-campus initiation. His body was later found to contain more than four times the legal limit of alcohol.

USU President Stan Albrecht appointed a task force to examine hazing after Starks' death. Under the lawsuit settlement, USU will review its hazing training, encourage students to take responsibility for each other's safety and ask faculty to support surveys of drug and alcohol use. The school will also consider making annual hazing training programs mandatory for all club sports and Greek organizations.

"Hazing and binge drinking kills or injures far too many college students, and we look forward to the positive steps Utah State University has agreed to take to address this tragic problem,” George Starks said in a statement.

University spokesman John DeVilbiss said the school had already moved to address the issue even before Starks' death.

"For us, the bottom line is we want to do anything and everything we can to prevent this from ever happening again," he said.

Part of that is informing students about state legislation passed last year that toughens penalties for hazing, from a class B to a class A misdemeanor with a possible jail term of up to a year, while also easing the penalties for those who call 911 in an emergency to save a person's life in a hazing incident.

However, USU's oversight of the three sororities and five fraternities adjacent to campus is limited since they are not directly affiliated with the school. The Greek organizations have a total of about 250 members.

Sigma Nu and its sister sorority, Chi Omega, disbanded their Logan chapters after Starks' death and reached out-of-court settlements with his family.

Twelve students were charged with hazing. Only five were convicted of lesser offenses for supplying the alcohol and obstruction of justice by hiding the bottle. They were sentenced to short jail terms.

Assistant Logan Police Chief Jeff Curtis said he was not aware of any similar incidents occurring more recently. He stressed the importance of calling 911 promptly in any alcohol poisoning, saying police would always give up an arrest in exchange for saving a life.

"We don't want someone to lose their life because the rest of them are scared of being arrested," Curtis said.

E-mail: pkoepp@desnews.com

Twitter: pbkdn