MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Disappointed and disturbed — two harsh words WVU Dean of Students Corey Farris used to describe the revelation that students waited more than two hours to call 911 after senior David Rusko fell down the stairs at Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s WVU chapter house last Saturday.
Farris said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval that University Police are still investigating what occurred in those two hours.
“That’s what the police are trying to understand, but quite honestly I’m just disturbed it took two hours,” he said.
He added later: “We got some preliminary information from the University Police that suggested there were some policy violations during that two hour window. And that’s what the police are focusing on.”
David Rusko, 22, a senior finance major at WVU, fell down stairs at the chapter house Saturday following the WVU-TCU game. Rusko, a fraternity brother there, was visiting with fraternity members. It was not an official social gathering.
“Because it happened at a fraternity house, we’re still unsure if it’s fraternity related or not,” Farris said.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was not among the five fraternities that dissociated from the university earlier in the semester. SAE was recognized in good standing following the implementation of the Reaching the Summit plan — a WVU-led initiative to reform Greek Life.
“I’m sorry that I’m here again with this same conversation that’s involving our students,” Farris said.
Rusko remains hospitalized. A WVU Medicine rep confirmed Rusko is in critical condition.
Farris was not prepared to comment on what the investigation has revealed thus far. He said between preliminary reports by police and the revelation of the two-hour wait to call 911 that the university was prepared to take swift action, which they did Thursday night announcing interim suspensions for an unknown number of students and of the SAE chapter.
“They can’t go to classes. They can’t use our facilities. They are prohibited from being on campus.”
According to a university release Thursday night, the national headquarters also issued a cease and desist notice.
“We’re not a criminal court, we are an administrative process,” Farris said. “The burden of proof for someone violating our rules and regulations is very, very different.”
“They are conduct standards for our students.”
Farris confirmed these are all interim measures until all the information has been gathered and student conduct hearings can be held.
“There’s enough for me to work with our conduct office and say, ‘We’ve got some individuals who are students who we need to take immediate action on,'” Farris said.
He would not confirm if alcohol was involved.