PAGE 6A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Jason Wren was known as number six to the KU Lacrosse Club team. It was his constant smile and fearless athleticism that Brian Wright, a senior from
Chicago, thought of as he lifted his stick to the sky during the team's home game against the University of Wisconsin in March. The game was dedicated to Jason, and they were down 5-0 in the last quarter.
this season."
Wren's impact on campus
"We were playing like crap, to be honest," Wright said. "I remember running back to the crease and I said to myself, 'be with us out here Jay,' and right away the team just sprung. We put up five goals right away and we ended up winning 14-12, and we're still undefeated
March 7, 2009 — After missing the bus to go to a lacrosse tournament, Jason went to a local Mexican restaurant with SAE members and drank margaritas using a fake ID. The members returned to the house and continued drinking, where Wren played drinking games and drank beer, wine and hard liquor.
May 4, 2009 — Chancellor Robert Hemenway approved changes to the University's amnesty, parental notification and mandatory alcohol assessment policies.
Wright said it's the best season the team has ever had and he wished Jason, who would have been a senior, was there to play with them, and when Wright thinks of March 8, 2009, he can remember the day perfectly.
March 8, 2009 — Jason was put in his bunk bed by fraternity members about 3:00 a.m. and found unresponsive at 2:00 p.m. He was pronounced dead about 2:45 p.m. An autopsy revealed he died of alcohol poisoning and his blood alcohol concentration was .362 at his time of death.
November 12, 2009 — Jay and Mary Wren, Jason's parents, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Kansas chapter of SAE, the entity that owns the house, the national organization, six SAE members and four officers. The suit was settled privately in March 2011.
March 16, 2009 About 1.000 people attended Jason's funeral at Cherry Hills Community Church in Littleton, Colo., including some of Jason's lacrosse teammates, University friends and SAE members.
Jason Wren, a 19-year-old freshman from Littleton, Colo., was a Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge. He had just moved into the SAE house, 1301 West Campus Road, the weekend before, and was found cold, his shirt soaked in vomit, and dead in his bunkbed about 2:00 p.m. An autopsy later showed his blood alcohol concentration was .362 percent at the time of his death.
April 16, 2010 — SAE partnered with the Delta Gamma sorority to host the first Jason Wren Initiative, an event designed to educate students and members of the Greek Community about alcohol use in college. In March 2011, SAE announced its plans to host the initiative annually.
Jason Wren shares a moment with his sisters Katie, left, and Vicky. Wren graduated in 2008 from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., where he was on the honor roll and lettered in three sports.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Sobering up
Jason moved into Oliver Residence Hall in the fall of 2008, but midway through the spring semester, hbut had to find somewhere else to live by the end
of February.
The KU Department of Student Housing prohibits alcohol in all residences. According to Clery Act records, during the calendar years of 2008 and 2009 in on-campus residence halls, there were 1,881 times in which students had violated the liquor law policy and received disciplinary action or a judicial referral, which an administrator determines if action is necessary.
Jason received at least three of those violations, and when he downplayed the violations to his father, Jay Wren, Jay started asking questions.
When he called the department to find out why Jason was asked to leave, he was told they could not discuss Jason's alcohol violations with him because of the University's privacy policy.
Jason was able to pledge SAE through a friend and permitted to immediately move into the house, but Jay wanted to try and keep Jason in the residence hall if he could.
"The weekend Jason had to move. I took Jason with me to the housing office so we could all talk about it together and plea his case," Jay said. "When we got there, they were closed."
Jay became outspoken about the University needing to change its privacy policy and spoke to various media outlets, including The University Daily Kansan. Jay also learned that Jason was put to bed by fraternity members, then stumbled back out of bed, slurring his words, and instead of calling for medical help, fraternity members placed him back in bed. It became apparent to Jay that students needed education to recognize the signs of alcohol poisoning.
On May 9, 2009, Chancellor Robert Hemenway approved three policy changes; one of the changes was parental notification. Under the new policy, parents are notified when a student under the age of 21
Jane Tuttle, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Affairs, said the University was already looking at changing alcohol policies after conducting a 2008 priority group, which recommended supportive services for alcohol and education.
on the Lawrence campus is in violation of the alcohol policy. Tuttle said in an email the University was already looking into changing the policy and found that other universities "had reported fewer incidents of alcohol abuse when parents were notified and viewed as partners in combating alcohol and drug abuse."
AlcoholEdu for College, a two-part education course, is required for all newly enrolled students who are seeking a degree under 22 years old.
"The AlcoholEdu program was adopted because it had been shown to make a difference in student alcohol use and abuse," Tuttle said in an email.
The third change was to the amnesty policy. Students who seek immediate medical assistance for someone involved in an alcohol related incident will not be punished by the University. Tuttle said the Public Safety Office was already implementing this policy when responding to alcohol calls, but making it official made more students aware of the change.
A month after Jason's death, Dalton Hawkins, freshman from Shawnee, died after falling off the roof of Watkins Scholarship Hall. A coroner's report showed Hawkins had been drinking.
After both deaths, the Public Safety Office received a push to better patrol and enforce alcohol violations.
"After the incidents, the University was very concerned and we are always very supportive of
the night before his death, Jason purchased pitchers of margarita with SAE members at downtown Mexican restaurant using a fake ID.
Since then, the Fake ID 101 Taskforce formed, a campaign led by Draw the Line Lawrence. Funded by grants, the campaign provides education, including how to spot fake IDs and the consequences of serving to minors to local bar owners and employees. It also provides posters around town displaying the consequences of possessing a fake ID. The taskforce teams up with the Lawrence Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the KUPD to issue citations to underage drinkers. It targets local bars, liquor stores and most recently, house parties.
Jen Jordan, director of prevention at Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism, said 352 individuals were cited for 498 violations in the previous three semesters.
Jason the gentleman
Jason fit in at SAE though his friends say he could fit in anywhere. The fraternity's men strive to be gentlemen and learn to care for others
about etiquette and care for others,
a mantra that Jason already knew
SAE held its own memorial service for Jason, which thousands attended, including Wright. He also went to Jason's funeral in Colorado with the team and they gave Jason's number six jersey to his father. For Wright, seeing SAE members both times was difficult.
"Jason was the one that would do anything to help you," Wright said. "If you were the drunk one, he'd take care of you. I have no doubt about it."
"I had a whole lot of animosity towards SAE at first," Wright said. "He had lived there a couple weeks and then he was dead. They were talking like he was their brother,
The fraternity underwent scrutiny after Jason's death, though an internal investigation by the national SAE fraternity did not find criminal action or negligence led to Jason's death. The house did not become dry like Jay asked it to be, but McLane said significant changes have been made.
it."
"We're not trying to sweep it under the rug." McLane said. "We obviously took it and continue to take it very seriously. We had a brother die in our house. It was an accident and we know with the right education and management we can limit those accidents if not exclude them."
The fraternity returned to its core values of being gentlemen and active, productive members of society, which meant no longer having house parties or hard liquor in the house.
McLane said in fall 2010, 25 members either chose not to return or were not invited back because they could not follow or appreciate the changes made within the house.
"There were only 13 of us at that point," McLane said. "We have grown that number to about 40 since then, so yes, I'd like to think that it is a different house since 2009."
According to court documents.
— Jay Wren
"I think about the three of them every single day," Jay said. "It's been a tough journey, and I hope and pray that Jason will save someone else's life."
what KU wants to accomplish," said Maj. Chris Keary, assistant KU police chief, said. "We realized there were ways we could help do that. So, the officers made sure to look for and respond to those incidents on campus, particularly MIPs."
According to yearly criminal offense reports, in 2008, the year before Wren's death, one person was cited for liquor law violations. In 2009, the number rose to 28 and in 2010 the number was the highest it had been in 10 years at 55.
and it was just like, 'no, no he was our brother.' We lived with him; we spent hours together sweating at 5 a.m. and working so hard together."
SAE president Chapin McLane, who did not know Jason personally, said it's unfortunate when people blame the death on the fraternity.
"His memory is forever apart of this house now," McLane said. "Maybe in a different way, because a lot of the guys who knew him aren't here anymore, but we do still tell his story to the pledge classes and we want them to remember
After Jason's death, the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic, the umbrella organizations for most Greek organizations, did not change its joint alcohol policy.
Seth Miller, the director of risk management for IFC, said in recent years, IFC has been working hard to assure all aspects of the IFC are working properly.
"The biggest thing we have done is just make sure every chapter follows the rules and that there are consequences if they don't," Miller said. The consequences are generally fines and an appearance before the judicial board.
Miller said IFC has also changed its party notification forms from one-page to four-page documents, requesting information from fraternities hosting official events. The party the night of Jason's death was not an official event, as the event forms must be turned in at least four days in advance, and
earlier Kansan stories revealed the party that night at SAE was the result of members choosing to stay in because of bad weather.
McLane said SAE ensures it is abiding by the standards put forth by the IFC by attending regular meetings and asking IFC or its other advisers for clarity and advice when there are questions.
"The new forms really provide us with more details about what the chapters are doing," Miller said. "Just being aware of what will be going on at those events. It just opens a line of communication and makes for better standards."
The SAE house also strongly advocates the Jayhawk Buddy System, which was designed during spring 2009 by a marketing class. Frank DeSalvo, associate vice provost for student affairs, said after Jason's death it became obvious the program needed to be implemented. "There was the impotence to get moving on it," DeSalvo said. "We needed it right now."
The program officially launched July 1, 2010, and received a $10,000 grant this month. It plans to use a portion of the money to place posters in fraternities and sororities and educate the members.
"We are encouraging students to really care for one another," DeSalvo said. "We want to help students avoid incidents in halls, or incidents to their health. We ultimately want to avoid another tragedy like Jason Wren."
Life without Jason
In November of 2009 Jay Wren and his wife Mary, filed a wrongful death suit against the fraternity's local and national organizations
the local housing corporation and several SAE members. It was settled privately in March 2011, and SAE agreed to continue hosting the Jason Wren Initiative.
The initiatives began in 2010 and are held annually in April. Each features a speaker to educate Greek members and students about the dangers of alcohol, and generally 700 to 1,000 people attend the event.
The Wren family has not been invited to the initiatives, a decision McLane said is not up to the fraternity itself, but rather the housing corporation that owns the SAE house.
Despite the tensions that still remain between the Wren's and SAE, Jay is relieved to see the changed policies, but believes students should not be able to live in the fraternity until they are 21, unless it is a dry house.
"I am glad the University made changes and that SAE did too, but I still don't get letting kids that are under 21 live with kids who legally can and do buy alcohol," lay said.
"I think about the three of them every single day," Jay said. "It's been a tough journey, and I hope and pray that Jason will save someone else's life."
Jay lost another two members of his family after Jason's death. His 16-year-old daughter and Jason's sister Vickie committed suicide in January 2010. Months later, Mary Wren also committed suicide. For Jay, life has taken on a different meaning than he ever thought it would.
Jay said after Jason's death, he received a letter from a female student who believed Jason had saved her life. The woman had been very intoxicated after a night of partying and her friends thought it would be best to let her sleep it off. Jason did not think putting her to bed would be best and decided to stay up with her and take care of her until her state improved.
Wright recalled hearing the story later from friends and said it was in Jason's nature to care for others.
"He was just a good guy," Wright said. "There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for someone.
Wright said Jason's memory is never far away, and he now thinks of him as the mayor, a nickname his father explained during his funeral.
"He was the mayor because he knew everyone." Wright said. "Everywhere he went he was smiling and shaking hands with people. There couldn't have been a better nickname for him."
The lacrosse team made shirts with Jason's number and the phrase, "acta non verba," which means deeds, not words, to commemorate Jason's spirit.
Wright, a rap performer, has written songs dedicated to Jason and performed those songs at the Granada. As he prepares for graduation, his future career and his own walk down the hill, he knows what Jason's future would have been like.
"He's the type of guy that could have done so many things and done them all really well," Wright said. "He would have been a successful guy, there is no doubt about it."
— Edited by Pat Strathman