Police Will Charge The Big Brother Of WVU Kappa Sigma Pledge Who Died Last Semester
Kappa Sigma at West Virginia University is about to take another blow in the wake of a pledge’s death last semester. Although nothing will ever compete with the inexcusable tragedy that occurred last November, having a member charged in connection with the death of an aspiring member is pretty damn awful.
Nolan Burch, an 18-year-old Kappa Sigma pledge, died last semester after consuming an extraordinary amount of alcohol on “big/little night” at the fraternity house. He was found unresponsive on a table at the house and subsequently passed away two days later. His BAC on the night of the incident was .493. Burch’s big brother in the fraternity, Richard Schwartz, was arrested today in connection to Nolan’s death. According to officers, Schwartz is the one who provided Burch with the liquor that he consumed that night.
From Charleston Daily Mail:
Burch, an 18-year-old also from Williamsville, N.Y., died on Nov. 14 after suffering a “catastrophic medical emergency” during a pledging ceremony at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house.
Prosecutors allege Schwartz gave the underage Burch a bottle of liquor as part of “big/little night,” a common event among fraternities and sororities which involves an older fraternity member buying alcohol and other gifts for a younger “brother” or “sister” who recently pledged to the organization.
The Kappa Sigma national organization had revoked the chapter’s charter in the week before Burch’s death. Several days later, the university suspended the activities of all fraternities and sororities. The suspension was only lifted earlier this month.
Schwartz was charged with one count of hazing and one count of conspiring to commit hazing. If convicted, he could face a maximum of almost two years in jail. He was released on a $10,000 bond..
[via Charleston Daily News]
Image via Twitter / @NolanBurch9
Rest in peace brother.
11 years ago at 5:18 pmAs much as people feel the need to blame someone, nobody drank the liquor for him or forced him to drink it. Shit happens. Amen brother
11 years ago at 5:21 pmHaving gone through something similar to this, you are pretty much forced into doing it. This kid was supposed to be watching out for the pledge and especially since it was his big brother, help guide him through the pledging process. There is a line that you don’t cross (typically once they start violently puking) and after that you ease down, the “rite of passage” has been made. I hate to say something like this about one of my brothers, but this kid deserves at least whats coming to him. If this was your Son or Brother you would feel the same way.
P.S. How the fuck did they not know a dead pledge was on a table for 2 days?
11 years ago at 6:06 pmThey didn’t know there was a dead pledge on a table for 2 days because it never happened. Read the article next time.
11 years ago at 6:15 pmAlright Captain Dickhhead, I clearly skimmed by that part. Sorry I don’t read TFM articles like I would a novel.
11 years ago at 6:20 pmYea, because being informed is definitely NF. Jackass.
11 years ago at 12:04 pmYou weren’t there so shut the fuck up.
Condemning someone off of assumptions and hearsay is as liberal as you can get. Let the courts decide.
11 years ago at 6:16 pm0.493 is not hearsay.
11 years ago at 6:49 pmYou’re clearly not a brother. If you were, you know better than to ever be judgmental of brotherhood events or your brothers.
11 years ago at 6:23 pmIm saying he deserves at least a heavy fine and yes, probably some jail time. Not a life sentence. I don’t know if you know the finality of death, but his parents will never have their son again. This kid obviously over did it, my brother or not punishment sounds justified.
11 years ago at 6:27 pmThe charges he received aren’t nearly as bad as it could have been. The guy is lucky he didn’t get charged with negligent homicide or something along those lines. Thoughts and prayers to the family, pledging is nothing worth dying for.
11 years ago at 10:05 amWHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DOWNVOTING NIGHTRIDER? THAT MOTHERFCKER SPEAKS THE TRUTH. I hope every single one of you down voters goes right straight to hell because you don’t know what you’re talking about.
11 years ago at 11:28 pmQuit dick-riding.
11 years ago at 8:34 amYou’re completely assuming that he was forced to drink at all. None of us were there, so none of us can make assumptions like that. However, I think this is a wake up call to everyone that we need to look out for our bros when drinking. It’s not cool in any way to drink dangerous amounts of alcohol, and unfortunately, Nolan just had too much to drink that night.
11 years ago at 7:37 pmYou’re right that we don’t know the circumstances surrounding the alcohol consumption. Maybe he went whole hog completely on his own and this is just a tragic case of poor self control.
..But based on the kind of atmosphere we all know develops during “bonding activities” involving pledges and alcohol, It’s very easy to see how high peer pressure or mandatory consumption could have been a factor.
Bottom line: Mess with your pledges in other ways. Pressuring people into drinking can only end badly.
11 years ago at 10:37 pmYou are one hundred percent right that this brother’s A->B big brother should have been watching out for him to make sure no ill befell him. It is a tragedy whenever the Kappa Sigma Fraternity loses a brother and an even bigger tragedy when his loss was preventable. Chapters across America need to become more responsible in order to avoid unfortunate situations like this one in the future.
11 years ago at 11:26 pmYou’re retarted the kid took four bars and had p5 of cocaine in his system at his time of death
11 years ago at 12:06 pmAbsolutely not, fuck you. The entire point of pledging is you’re supposed to trust the process, trust the actives. You get balled if you don’t. And most 18 year olds have no idea how much they can safely drink. The kid put his life in the hands of what were supposed to be his future brothers, and they for all intents and purposes killed him.
11 years ago at 12:00 pmThis whole thing was incredibly devastating. RIP
11 years ago at 5:22 pmIf a kids parents buy him a car and he drives it tree, is it their fault? Unfortunate event but ultimately he drank the booze.
11 years ago at 5:24 pmIf the kid isn’t old enough to drive, then yeah, they’d probably be held accountable.
11 years ago at 6:20 pmSo if someone gives a minor alcohol, it isn’t his fault for drinking it?
11 years ago at 11:30 pm“drives it tree” read what you’re writing next time.
11 years ago at 6:22 pmIt’s always awful to see the lifestyle we’ve come to know and love take a brother. RIP and may the fraternal gates of heaven welcome you.
11 years ago at 5:24 pmkappa sig had already lost their charter and been suspended when they did their big brother night.
11 years ago at 5:26 pmRest easy, brother.
11 years ago at 5:44 pmRIP Brother. AEKDB
11 years ago at 6:13 pmHe didn’t know what that meant technically….
11 years ago at 8:23 pmGetting drunk WITH your pledges and having a good time > Making pledges drink
Part of the problem my chapter has realized is that aggressive hazing leads to a very large gap between brother and pledge. While a gap needs to be made obviously, you don’t want to be so apart from these guys, cause the day they (might) be initiated it’s just weird to suddenly love them. Let them drink at their own pace and everyone will have a good time. You can still mess around with your pledges, and they’ll think its fun/funny. Situations like this would be avoided.
11 years ago at 8:27 pmThis is what happens when brothers, not just pledges, feel obligated to drink. I was extremely lucky that my fraternity did not ever force me or any pledge to do anything that we were not comfortable with doing, including drinking. I hope that if it is proven to be true that he was forced to drink, that those responsible are heavily punished. RIP.
11 years ago at 6:42 pmMy chapter had a policy of not forcing anyone to drink, just providing a safe place to do so. Honestly I think thats how it should be. Forcing someone to drink is just not cool, giving them a reason to drink with them is.
Be careful everyone, we are all our brother’s keepers.
11 years ago at 7:37 pmIn my opinion on this, I’ve gone thru a similar process however I was on medication the night of my big brother, and I told him that and he grabbed the bottle out of my hand and said that I shouldn’t be drinking in that case. I drank a little but not to that extent because I wasn’t comfortable with it and my Big watched out for me. That’s the whole point, your big brother is supposed to have your back and be there for you. In that case he should’ve been watching out for him. It’s hard to place all the fault on him for this and its shitty because it’ll be behind him for the rest of his life. Regardless rest in peace it’s a terrible tragedy as I am a West Virginia native.
11 years ago at 7:38 pmIgnore my grammatical issues I apologize.
11 years ago at 7:39 pm