Update [9/10/14, 4:58pm]: President Michael Roth sends an all campus email about the recovering student’s condition:
Dear friends,
We have all been deeply concerned about the condition of the student who was injured in a fall from the third floor of Beta Theta Pi early Sunday morning. She remains in the Intensive Care Unit of a Hartford hospital, and those close to her have very much appreciated the expressions of support and care from the Wesleyan community. I spent some time with the family at the hospital this morning. We are all hopeful for her recovery and would love to welcome her back to Wesleyan whenever she is healthy enough to resume her studies. Meanwhile, we will keep her and her family in our thoughts.
Michael S. Roth
President
Update [9/10/14, 12:44pm]: President Michael Roth and Dean Mike Whaley just emailed the student body to announce that Beta has been shut down for the remainder of the school year. Students are banned from returning to the house, and Beta’s residents are being moved to alternative housing. For more information and updates on the situation, click here.
Update [9/8/14, 7:40pm]: The Hartford Courant published an update, saying that the student is now in “stable” condition.
Update [9/8/14, 12:10pm]: WFSB published a more in-depth story of the incident.
Read after the jump for more updates as well as information on Dean Whaley’s original email and news reports on the situation.
An update from Dan Muro ’17, one of the organizers from yesterday’s community meeting: “[Attendees] sat in a circle and had a moment of silence for the injured student and we quietly disbanded when we felt like we thought all we needed to. It seemed as if the people who attended the gathering had the opportunity for reflection and sending love to the injured student, her family, and friends. I feel very strongly that this type of community gathering demonstrates how much Wesleyan students care about one another.”
Update [9/7/14, 6:22pm]: Dean Mike Whaley sent an email to the campus community on the condition of the hospitalized student:
I am sorry to report that early Sunday morning a female sophomore suffered multiple and serious injuries in a fall from a window at Beta Theta Pi. Wesleyan Public Safety responded, as did Middletown Police, and the student was transported by helicopter to St. Francis Hospital. Family members are with her.
Public Safety and Middletown Police are investigating this incident. Here on campus Residential Life and CAPS staff are available to speak with concerned students. Our thoughts are with the injured student, who is improving, and we hope for a full and speedy recovery.
Update [9/7/14, 4:47pm]: The hospitalized student is confirmed to be a female sophomore. We are withholding her name to respect her privacy at this time.
Update [9/7/14, 4:42pm]: Change of plans for the community meeting: In order to keep the focus of tonight’s gathering on the student in critical condition, the meeting will be extremely short and focused solely on the student. The organizers hope that this will keep people from turning the event into an issue of campus politics when so many details of the case are still murky.
Update [9/7/14, 4:04pm]: Organizers of the community meeting are Dan Muro ’17 and Morgan Hill ’15; feel free to contact them with any questions. Muro wrote in an email that he hopes this event doesn’t turn into an activist/interest group standoff. “We just agreed that this really tragic thing shouldn’t just pass by and that getting bodies together to discuss and show solidarity (with the injured student and the entire community) is urgent,” he wrote. Still waiting for more information as to what tonight’s agenda will entail.
Update [9/7/14, 3:21pm]: There is apparently a community meeting happening tonight at 7pm in the PAC Courtyard to discuss this incident. No word on who’s organizing the meeting, but the message is circulating amongst several campus listservs. More information on the meeting to come shortly.
Update [9/7/14, 1:52pm]: NBC Connecticut also published a story on the incident that goes into slightly more detail about past issues at Beta.
As many of you may have heard, Dean Mike Whaley sent out an all-campus email this morning at 4 a.m. about an incident that took place at Beta last night:
Early this morning a student was injured in a fall at Beta Theta Pi. The student was transported by helicopter to a Hartford hospital. Middletown Police are investigating the incident. We have no other information at this time, but will continue to monitor the student’s condition. Residential Life and CAPS staff are available to speak with concerned students.
According to reports from the Hartford Courant and the Middletown Press, the student is now being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford after being transported by Life Star helicopter.
The student’s name is being withheld at this time.
We’ll continue to post updates as they become available.
Or we could initially focus on supporting the member of our community that is seriously injured and offer assistance/love/kindness to their friends, family, etc. before looking to point fingers.
I agree, these first few days should all be about supporting our community member and being helpful instead of hateful. But after that is said and done, it is fair to expect a serious investigation into this event so that even more people aren’t put into this tragic position.
My thoughts and prayers are with the student at this time. Meanwhile, the Mu Epsilon chapter needs to embrace and take seriously the values it pledges to uphold: https://www.muepsilonbeta.org/fraternity.php
this has less to do with the conduct of the organization and more to do with responsible consumption of alcohol. Maybe they should put some screens on the windows going forward