COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri has proposed disciplinary sanctions against 13 students as part of its investigation into an October fraternity pledge party that left a student from Minnesota with brain injuries.
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Federal student privacy law keeps the school from naming the students or providing details about the disciplinary decisions, but the sanctions could include suspension or expulsion, the university said in a statement Thursday.
The students will have the option to contest the proposed sanctions at a hearing and can appeal any sanctions, the university said.
The university’s action comes months after Daniel Santulli, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was found in cardiac arrest inside a car at University Hospital in Columbia on Oct. 20 after a pledge party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. A university police investigation found that Santulli and other Phi Gamma Delta pledges were forced to drink dangerous amounts of alcohol.
A lawsuit filed on Santulli's behalf says the pledges were each forced to drink a bottle of hard liquor. The national fraternity and university both suspended the Missouri chapter following Santulli’s hospitalization.