PVAMU Suspends Frat After Pledge Death

HOUSTON (AP) _ Prairie View A&M University has suspended a fraternity chapter until 2013 after determining that its hazing of a 20-year-old pledge led to his death.

University officials say junior Donnie Wade II of Dallas died Oct. 20 after members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity subjected him to rigorous physical workouts.

The Houston Chronicle reports that a university investigation found that fraternity members demanded other pledges to deny that any fraternity member was present when Wade and other pledges participated in an early morning run off campus.

An autopsy blamed Wade’s death on a rare syndrome triggered by strenuous exercise, complicated by a sickle-cell trait.

A message left Monday by The Associated Press with Phi Beta Sigma’s national officials wasn’t returned.

Wade’s family is suing the university and the fraternity, alleging wrongful death.

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