Father of dead UAlbany student files notice of claim

PHOTOGRAPHER: Justin Mason

University at Albany administrators failed to rein in an underground fraternity known among students as Zeta Beta Tau before an off-campus pledging event led to the death of sophomore Trevor Duffy, according to a notice of claim filed by his father last month.

The five-page filing also naming UAlbany, the State University of New York and SUNY’s board of trustees alleges that the 19-year-old man attended a party at 461 Hamilton St. in Albany as part of “student campus life” and “was compelled to drink excessive amounts of alcohol,” which later caused him to die. Stephen Duffy of the Bronx — the student’s father — is seeking $55 million in damages, according to a precursor for a lawsuit.

Among other accusations, the notice of claim asserts that UAlbany failed to implement a policy to combat excessive drinking among students or protect them against hazing, and were unable to ensure fraternities are “managed by competent and mature adults capable of preventing the activities which caused the death of . . . Trevor Duffy.” In addition, the filing accuses the university of not warning students of the dangers of attending fraternity parties and failing to thwart the activities of the unrecognized group Duffy was trying to join at the time of his death.

“[T]he respondents, their agents, servants and employees were aware of the activities of this particular fraternity but failed to stop said activities; and the respondents, their agents, servants and employees were otherwise careless, reckless and negligent, all without any activity on the part of the decedent contributing thereto,” states the claim filed with the state Attorney General’s Office on Dec. 12.

Calls to the law firm that filed the case and Duffy’s father were not returned earlier this week. UAlbany spokesman Karl Luntta declined to comment on the notice, citing the university’s policy of not discussing active legal matters.

“We don’t comment on pending or current litigation,” he said.

Albany police say Duffy was attending a party during the predawn hours on Nov. 16, when paramedics were summoned to the house to treat him and several others for excessive alcohol consumption. Duffy was brought to Albany Medical Center and died the following day.

ZBT is one of several underground fraternities thought to be operating off-campus and outside the oversight of the university. The group was barred from the campus for five years starting in 1997 after photographs found at the fraternity’s on-campus residence hall showed some of its hazing practices. About a decade later, the fraternity was identified by university administrators as one that continued to operate underground.

“We don’t recognize them,” Luntta said Monday. “They’re not sanctioned by the university. They’re not part of the university family.”

The national organization overseeing ZBT chapters has disavowed any connection with the off-campus group. The national organization has a colony at UAlbany, but that group is sanctioned on the campus and not affiliated with the off-campus group.

Albany police continue to probe Duffy’s death. Department spokesman Steve Smith said investigators continue to await Duffy’s toxicology result and that no arrests have been made in the case.

Luntta declined to discuss whether any students had been disciplined in connection with Duffy’s death. Speaking generally, he said, UAlbany students can face judicial referrals for their conduct off-campus.

“Whenever there’s a case like this, whether the infractions happened on campus or off, . . . there will be judicial referrals to all appropriate students involved,” he said.