TANSAN
3,2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009
TUESDAY, APRIL 28. 2009
NEWS
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Jason shares a moment with his sisters Katie, left, and Vicky. Jason graduated from Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colo., in May 2008.
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
"He was about as he did. I trouble but that was
lar on his hall.
first people make me feel in", said Australia.
Jason Wren, fourth from right, and girlfriend Channing Abbe, third from right, stand for a photo with friends from high school during Jason's senior interview in Littleton, Colo. Jason's high school朋友 said he had a warm personality.
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situation that he was, so it should be used as an eye opener for people."
Shane Glenn, Andover junior and president of SAE's KU chapter, said the purpose of the event was to remember a friend, bring awareness to a campuswide issue and to raise money for the Jason Wren Memorial Fund, a charity created by Wren's father.
The fraternity sold tickets to the event for $10 a piece and donated all the concert's proceeds to the charity. The money collected from the concert will be used to build a bench in front of Wren's high school as well as to raise awareness about University privacy policies and alcohol safety issues.
Nehring said he liked that the event portrayed the Greek community in a positive light.
"A lot of people base their images of fraternities off of movies," he said. "In movies it's big parties all the time, just going out and being irresponsible. So it's always nice when fraternities and sororites do something that is not what's expected."
Despite the loss of a friend, Glenn said fraternity members were trying to cope with the situation and learn something from it.
"It's hard to see someone who you just met disappear in 10 days, and it's just hard to see someone so young leave so quickly," he said. "But we're all there for each other. It helped us, you know, take something positive out of this and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again, because it happens all over the country."
- Brianne Pfannenstiel
Tyler Waugh/KANSAN
Jay Wren, the father of Jason Wren, speaks at his sons' funeral in Littleton, Colo., on March 16. Since Jason's death, Jay has been vocal about his desire to see alcohol- and privacy-related policies at the University chaned.
at Oliver. Jason drank in his and others' rooms, leading to numerous write-ups that eventually resulted in the Department of Student Housing's asking Jason to leave.
Jay Wren said his son told him a week ahead of time that he had been given until Feb. 28 to leave Oliver Hall for violating housing policy.
Jay Wren said he called the Department of Student Housing to ask why his son was being forced to leave, but a representative told him a privacy policy dictated that details remain confidential.
The father said his son had downplayed his infractions, saying a resident assistant wrote him up
passionate everything it got him in sometimes, what's what he passionate."
after finding a shot glass, and later a beer can, in his room, and finally because he had been seen holding a beer can for a friend while the friend used the restroom.
Records of Jason's specific infractions are protected by the University's
Jay Wren said he would like to see student housing's privacy policy concerning the notification of parents following a rule violation changed, giving parents more access to student housing records.
interpretation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
HANNING AHBE ason's girlfriend
especially records concerning behavioral issues.
"I looked up the law — they'll release full records to other scholastic institutions, they'll release it to financial institutions, but they won't release it to the parents." Jay Wren said. "There needs to be an exception; they can't block out the parents."
Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success, said after Jason's death that University administration was reviewing its policy.
Jill Jess, associate director for news and media relations, said all housing issues were private, even after a former resident's death. The Department of Student Housing declined to comment.
A final report is due in June after examination of biological samples that were sent to a laboratory in St. Louis.
As for any investigation by the University or the fraternity, officials
A preliminary report found evidence of physical damage to Jason's body that is associated with alcohol and drug overdoses, said Jennifer McCollum, medical investigator at the Shawnee County coroner's office.
Jason's family had hoped Lawrence police would treat his death as a criminal investigation, but no such investigation is under way.
THE INVESTIGATION
Rueben Perez, director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, which oversees Greek life at the University, said that after Jason's death, KU officials planned to bring more attention to the problem of drinking — especially underage drinking — by students.
"He was a good kid. He was loved by many, and his life got cut short," he said. "In his honor, I want kids to put the drinks down, and every time I want to have a drink now, I'm going to say no. It's in honor of my son, because
Shane Glenn, president of the KU SAE chapter, declined to comment. The fraternity has had two events in honor of Jason: a memorial service after he died and a tribute concert Monday.
Since his son's death, Jay Wren has been outspoken in calling for college students to change their drinking habits. He would also like to see alcohol possession rules at fraternities change, saying the current practices contributed to Jason's death.
'DENVERDAD' AND OTHERS SPEAK OUT
have said little. Immediately after Jason's death, Chancellor Robert Hemenway released a statement expressing sorrow for Jason's death and acknowledging the family's loss.
"It's a problem that permeates not just the greek community but the whole campus," Perez said.
alcohol killed him."
Under the screenname "DenverDad," Jay Wren has left nearly 50 comments on articles about his son's death on Kansan. com — some nearly 500 words long — to date. One such comment:
The law doesn't allow anyone under 21 to be in
"Why do we let our children,
underage, sleep in a house that has open alcohol and no adult supervision? It was the biggest mistake in my life.
after 10 p.m., can
it's OK for them to be in "sleeping
bars" called fraternities?
"You binge drink, you drink to get drunk.
It's what I do, that's what everybody does,
that's what Jason did."
YES, I made mistake of going to bar with my son the weekend before he died, the weekend I helped him move. YES, I made an error in judgment that it would be okay for Jason to be in a fraternity ...
I have made changes in my life to be a better example to my surviving daughters. I have not had a drink since the day I heard of Jason's death. Why can't fraternities change? Why can't the University change?"
SAE freshman
Wren has criticized what he says are "loaded gun" policies of housing drinking-age and underage residents in the same residence
"Uninformed students who didn't know the dangers ended up putting Jason's life in a terrible
halls and greek houses. He has also accused the University and SAE of failing to provide students with educational programs that include the signs of alcohol poisoning.
Brandon Weghorst, the national spokesman for SAE, said the fraternity invested time and money into continuous training about the dangers of
alcohol for each of its members.
THE 'PROBLEM'
Weghorst said in a statement that SAE had closed an internal investigation of the chapter after finding no "criminal actions or negligence by the organization, the chapter or its respective members that led to the death" and that "we believe this is a very unfortunate, isolated incident."
Those close to Jason say they want his life to be remembered, not his death.
Jason's tragic death has left a painful void in the lives of his mother and father, his sisters and his countless friends.
"People want to blame the fraternity, people want to blame him, but it's not that at all — it's just college," the freshman said. "We drink. You binge drink, you drink to get drunk. It what I do, that's what everybody does, that's what Jason did."
"We want people to know Jason's life wasn't drinking," Vicky Wren, Jason's sister, said.
He said he felt people looked for a simple answer to Jason's death, but that it was an "unfortunate accident" — the result of the kind of drinking that was common at the University.
Several people who knew him have been frustrated by comments from people who say that because Jason died from excessive drinking, he had a drinking problem.
"Every time I hear somebody say he had a drinking problem. I just want to scream, because Jason Wren did not have a drinking problem," the SAE freshman said.
He said Jason did not have a problem, because he did not need to drink but rather chose to drink because of the culture.
"By the books, yes, he had a drinking problem," he said. "I mean, I have a drinking problem, every single kid here probably has a drinking problem."
Edited by Luke Morris