MIT settles '97 alcohol death

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has agreed to a $6 million settlement with the parents of a freshman who drank himself to death three years ago. Scott Krueger, 18, died in 1997 three days after lapsing into an alcohol-induced coma. He had been taking part in a fraternity pledging event at the Phi Gamma Delta house. The deal removes the threat of litigation against MIT by Robert and Darlene Krueger, who were set to file suit Wednesday if a pact had not been reached. The school has agreed to endow a $1.25 million scholarship in memory of Krueger, as well as pay $4.75 million to his parents. The death rocked the MIT campus and forced the school to undergo a radical review of its alcohol and residential policies. At the time of the incident, incoming freshmen had to choose to live in a fraternity or a dormitory within days of arriving on campus. Now, however, the school requires all freshmen to live in housing owned and supervised by MIT -- effective in 2002, when the construction of a new undergraduate residence hall is slated to be completed. Also in 2002, all rush events will be moved later in the year so they no longer coincide with orientation. Currently, all fraternities and sororities are required to have resident advisors who are not undergraduates. Brad Henry, one of the Kruegers' attorneys, said that any deal was conditional on full public disclosure -- all agreements that would have remained confidential were rejected. Henry added that no compromises were made in the process. "There were no concessions on our part." MIT President Charles Vest personally met with the Kruegers and issued an apology on behalf of the university, which was released on the school's Web site. "The death of Scott as a freshman living in an MIT fraternity shows that our approach to alcohol education and policy, and our freshman housing options, were inadequate. I am deeply sorry for this." Henry cited Vest's involvement as a key element in the settlement process: "Once MIT, through its president, Charles Vest, expressed apologies for the failure of the Institute, everything became easier." The Kruegers have not publicly declared what they plan to do with the money awarded to them. Henry pointed out that MIT has implemented certain reforms since Scott's death. "We shouldn't gloss over the fact that MIT has already taken many of the steps they promised they would." He nevertheless added that "the pace of the reforms is somewhat frustrating." In the aftermath of the incident, FIJI was permanently banned from MIT. The fraternity was indicted for its part in Krueger's death, though no one ever stood trial. And in 1999, the Institute revoked for five years the diploma of a 1998 graduate who had served as pledgemaster at the event. Penn's chapter of Phi Gamma Delta also disbanded last spring following the alcohol-related death of 1994 College graduate and FIJI brother Michael Tobin.