All WVU Fraternities And Sororities Suspended Following Tragic Pledge Incident
All West Virginia University fraternities and sororities have been suspended indefinitely following a tragic event inside the Kappa Sigma house on Wednesday night. Freshman Nolan Burch, 18, was found unresponsive inside the house as someone attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive him. He wasn’t breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived, per reports. Burch was rushed to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown where he was taken to the ICU.
Burch is still alive, but the situation appears grim from the information available. According to his sister, Alex, Nolan’s fight for his life could be ending soon.
Nolan's fight is ending soon, if anybody wants to come down to the hospital in Morgan town I'll give you the address so you can say goodbye
— alex burch (@alexburch2) November 13, 2014
The incident is being described as a “catastrophic medical emergency,” one the university deems worthy of shutting down all fraternity and sorority functions while information is being gathered and reviewed.
The WVU Dean of Students, Corey Harris, explains the reason for suspending all Greek life activity, per NBC News:
“The action to halt fraternity and sorority activities while these matters are being reviewed is being done with the well-being and safety of our students in mind,” said Corey Farris, West Virginia University’s dean of students. “That is — and must always be — our foremost priority.”
Nolan Burch’s last two tweets cast an ominous foreshadow that will surely be engrained into students’ minds in Morgantown. The afternoon of the day the incident occurred, he posted about the night to come.
It's about to be a very eventful night to say the least
— Nolan Burch (@NolanBurch9) November 12, 2014
And the day prior, Nolan shared an inspirational quote about dealing with the tribulations that life throws at us.
— Nolan Burch (@NolanBurch9) November 11, 2014
This incident comes soon after 19 pledges of WVU’s Sigma Chi chapter were either arrested or cited for underage drinking after police discovered them brawling in the streets. The pledges initially identified themselves as members of their rival fraternity, and they could now “face charges of obstruction of justice for providing fictitious information” because of it. Sigma Chi was suspended following the incident.
UPDATE: Nolan has passed away, according to his sister.
Rest in peace buddy I'll see you later, but for now raise hell up there for me
— alex burch (@alexburch2) November 14, 2014
Our thoughts go out to Nolan’s family and friends, as well as the West Virginia University community..
[via NBC News]
Image via Twitter / @NolanBurch9
It has been a horrible first semester for our university. It is a shame that a night that was supposed to be fun, ended up being a night full of terror. Rest in Paradise Nolan, your whole Mountaineer family loves you.
11 years ago at 11:02 amAny other mountaineers on here, you’ll appreciate this. http://instagram.com/p/vZEyzttsHj/
11 years ago at 2:54 pmYou guys and everybody involved in this tragedy will be in our prayers. Hang in there guys. You have our supports. And if there is some sort of way to donate to the family. Please let us know. I know I’m prepared to make a donation to the family and I’m sure most people on this site, and Greeks everywhere are willing to. RIP Nolan.
11 years ago at 6:24 pmGod rest his soul.
11 years ago at 11:02 amCouldn’t even credit Shibby for posting an article about this in the forums an hour ago? Weak shit Cheverere.
11 years ago at 11:03 amWe got probably 50+ tips about this. Calm down.
11 years ago at 11:05 amNonetheless, thoughts and prayers out to the Burch family and entirety of WVU Greek Life.
11 years ago at 11:05 amNice save.
11 years ago at 11:10 amWIn some, lose some.
11 years ago at 11:55 amIt’s a damn shame this happened but I was wondering if the recent fraternity death at UC Berkley was over looked
11 years ago at 12:30 pmWhy is this lapped?
11 years ago at 1:25 pmPrayers to his family, what an awful situation all around.
11 years ago at 11:06 amPlease revise the article, Alex Burch is his sister not his brother
11 years ago at 11:07 amThanks. Fixed.
11 years ago at 11:10 amDamn. I hope nobody forced him to drink so much. It’s all fun and games, but once someone gets too drunk it’s a brother’s job to make sure he ends up okay.
11 years ago at 11:09 amIt was big brother night and apparently the kid did some drugs while he was drinking, which sent him over the edge. Really upsetting.
11 years ago at 11:17 amTFM should set up a GoFundMe so we could donate to help the family out with hospitalization cost and show the world what it means to be a Greek community, or if anyone has a link please share it.
11 years ago at 11:47 amTrust me, a lot of organizations were planning philanthropies before we got the suspension letter last night.
11 years ago at 11:51 amSo does this exist yet or no?
11 years ago at 1:03 pmNo, they can’t do them because they are suspended. C’mon dude, put two and two together. It would be nice to see all of the greek orgs unite for something though.
11 years ago at 6:45 pmDoes anybody know what caused this “catastrophic medical emergency?” Prayers for the Burch family and for the WVU community…
11 years ago at 11:10 amCardiac arrest from drugs.
11 years ago at 11:17 amFuck man. I can’t imagine if this happened to one my brothers. I hope everyone at WVU and those in the Greek community can rally around this tragedy and become better and stronger because of it. Prayers for his family… We may come from a different cloth, but we are all in it together. Much love yalls way.
11 years ago at 11:24 amYou’re going to be very disappointed then. The Vigil for him was pretty much all greek life and his family. The non Greeks here spent the past two days shit talking Greeks, saying that we do nothing but kill and haze. I wore my letters today and someone told me that I’m apart of a “Murderer’s Family”, even though I’m a delt and not a kappa sig. They make fun of us for all of us being suspended and said that they are “Gonna love to see all the Greeks try to go to house parties until they aren’t suspended”. Some of my friends who are Greeks have already started the search for a school to transfer to, because they think the university will ban all greek life(Tough shot it’s WVU, the main selling point is partying). I don’t know how long the school will be divided over this, but it’s stupid considering that we just lost one of our own.
11 years ago at 11:50 amMan, I hate that it happened, but I understand on the whole shit talking Greeks thing. We get bashed hard fucking core at my school because greek life isn’t a huge deal.
11 years ago at 12:35 pmI’m used to it and shrug it off. The only ones who talk shit are the guys because they can’t get into the parties. The girls love us.
11 years ago at 12:38 pmMay God rest his soul and comfort those close to him.
11 years ago at 11:11 amRIP from everyone back home in Buffalo. Good Canisius kid. Didn’t deserve this. Prayers to Burch family and friends.
11 years ago at 11:11 amI pray this family finds strength to make it through this. The body is an incredible thing. Maybe he can make it through this. Nolan, we are thinking about you today, buddy.
11 years ago at 11:23 am