Penn investigates death at frat house New Year's Eve

University of Pennsylvania police and officials are continuing to investigate the death of Matt Crozier, a 20-year-old college basketball player who died this week after falling between floors at a New Year's Eve party inside a Penn fraternity house.

Crozier, a La Salle College High School graduate and student at John Carroll University in Ohio, died Wednesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He suffered severe head injuries after falling over a railing from the second floor to the first floor of Penn's Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house.

Phi Kappa Sigma's national guidelines require the fraternity's chapter houses to be drug- and alcohol-free, a policy the organization adopted in 2000. Police have said there was alcohol at the New Year's Eve party, but have not specified whether that had anything to do with Crozier's death.

Hamilton "Toby" Smith, executive director of the Phi Kappa Sigma International Fraternity, said the party Crozier was attending was not a planned chapter event but an "impromptu" party held by several fraternity members who invited their old high school friends to celebrate New Year's Eve at the house.

Phi Kappa Sigma "expresses its sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends," the statement said.

The house on the 3500 block of Locust Walk is privately owned, and the school was on break when the accident occurred.

Penn officials said in a statement, "This is a tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the young man's family and friends."

A woman who answered the door Thursday at Crozier's parents' home in Yardley said the family had no comment. In the driveway of the home was a basketball hoop, and a foul lane was painted on the asphalt.

A Funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Ignatius of Antioch Roman Catholic Church in Yardley.

Crozier was a third-year business-management major at John Carroll, a Jesuit school in Cleveland. He was a standout basketball player at La Salle College High School and later for John Carroll's Division III Blue Streaks, according to a biography on John Carroll's website. As a sophomore, Crozier was named an honorable mention All-Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) player, and earned numerous awards in the two seasons he played. He was taking a medical redshirt due to injury for the 2010-11 season, the school said.

"Matt was everything you hope for when you bring someone into your program," said men's basketball head coach Mike Moran in a statement released by the school. "When we recruited him, we knew right away the kind of impact that he would make, not only as a player but as a person. He worked hard, had the right attitude, and was an excellent representative of his family, his community, his school, and his team."

All OAC schools with games scheduled Wednesday observed a moment of silence before the game began, the statement said.

Members of Phi Kappa Sigma are sometimes known as "Skulls," for the skull pictured on the organization's coat of arms. The fraternity has 69 chapters and 2,500 active undergraduate members, according to the website, as well as about 37,000 alumni, including the author Tom Wolfe.

The Phi Kappa Sigma International Fraternity's ban on alcohol prohibits members from having alcohol in their rooms or at parties. Some members of the Greek system have said the measure has been seen as a way for organizations to limit their liability in accidents involving alcohol or drugs.

Penn's chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma lost its national charter temporarily in 1994. According to the student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, the national organization revoked the chapter for failing to meet Phi Kappa Sigma's standards of operation, which included responsible risk-management practices, achievement of certain scholastic goals, participation in community-service projects, and maintenance of safe living facilities. The chapter was re-established in 1997.

Penn's fraternity system has come under scrutiny in the past, most notably in 1999 after a 26-year-old alumnus fell to his death from a balcony staircase behind the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. Michael E. Tobin, 26, a former Penn lacrosse player, had more than twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in his bloodstream when he died.

At the time, members of Phi Gamma Delta chapters were not allowed to buy alcohol or provide it at houses, but people were permitted to bring it in. The national Phi Gamma Delta organization had already announced that it was implementing a substance-free policy in chapters in future years.

In the wake of Tobin's death, Penn instituted a temporary ban on alcohol at registered undergraduate parties, and also suspended Phi Gamma Delta. The chapter forfeited its charter soon thereafter.

Tobin's parents sued Penn for $5 million, arguing that a missing handrail on the balcony caused Tobin to fall. The school settled for an undisclosed amount.

In 2004, Penn student Matthew Paris was seriously injured in a fall from a third-story balcony at the school's Psi Upsilon fraternity. Paris, 21, reportedly drank 21 shots of vodka before the fall, although the fraternity's guidelines allowed it to serve only beer and wine.