BOWLING GREEN — On the day that the Lucas County Coroner’s Office formally declared a student’s death last month to have been caused by acute ethanol intoxication from hazing, the Bowling Green State University fraternity involved in the incident waived a hearing related to six violations of the school’s code of conduct.
Lucas County Coroner Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett determined Stone Foltz, 20, died from alcohol poisoning following a hazing incident that was part of a “college fraternity induction ritual.” The death was ruled accidental.
Mr. Foltz had been found unconscious in his Bowling Green apartment on the night of March 4 where, according to details released in various reports, he had been dropped off following an off-campus event at 318 N. Main St. that was associated with the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity’s BGSU chapter.
According to a notice to Pi Kappa Alpha from the university dean of students office, members of the organization provided individual bottles of alcohol to new members and encouraged the new members to consume the entire contents of the bottle.
Mr. Foltz died March 7 in ProMedica Toledo Hospital after removal of bodily organs for donation..
Alex Solis, the university’s spokesman, said Tuesday that during a meeting Tuesday with BGSU administrators, Pi Kappa Alpha representatives “declined to move forward with a hearing” related to charges lodged under the Code of Student Conduct, including causing harm to others, hazing, and disrupting order or disregarding health and safety with alcohol.
“More information will be available later this week,” the spokesman said.
The Pi Kappa Alpha chapter has been on interim suspension since March 5, and the university also has since canceled the current semester’s recruitment activities for all campus fraternities and sororities.
A Bowling Green Police Department investigation also continues.
First Published April 6, 2021, 9:23 p.m.
