This past weekend, three students from the Alpha Beta Zeta fraternity were admitted to the local hospital with an alcohol poisoning diagnosis.
The hospitalized students included junior Press Martin, sophomore Rob Smith and freshman Al Amalek. The concern with drinking at fraternity parties has been recently amplified, especially after an LSU and MIT student died from alcohol poisoning.
Two weeks ago, the University’s president Harvey Smithville reiterated the banning of alcohol from fraternity houses on or near campus property, “Any fraternity in which the members have alcohol will be immediately suspended. A second offense within a year will result in the banning of that fraternity for five years.”
The University responded to the ABZ incident by saying, “A number of witnesses say alcohol was being consumed by them. Based on that we are suspending the fraternity and all its activities on campus.” The fraternity’s suspension is indefinite, however Jan Mize from the university’s public relations department said that suspensions like this usually last about a year.
Interfraternity Council president Bart Addison was shocked to hear about this incident but believes that the entire fraternity should not be penalized for a few men’s actions.
Martin and Smith were released from the hospital on Monday morning, but Amalek remained behind. As a result of this incident, the University may potentially increase the police controls of fraternity houses on the weekends.
Good lead, but I bet you could pack a little more news into it — like about the frat’s suspension?
Second graf: “The concern with drinking at fraternity parties has been recently amplified, especially after an LSU and MIT student died from alcohol poisoning.” This sentence is pretty vague and written in passive voice. I think this still doesn’t belong so high up in the story. This is a piece of information that can amplify part of your story, but is not necessarily *big news* for your publication.