Family of Cornell student found dead after frat party sues school

MIAMI – The family of a Cornell University student from South Florida who died last year after a fraternity rush party has filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League school.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York claims Cornell was negligent in its duties to enforce its policies regarding frat parties and hazing that contributed to the death of Antonio Tsialas.

According to the lawsuit, Tsialas was one of 35 other freshmen invited to attend a rush party at the Phi Kappa Psi frat house last fall. The “Christmas in October” event, as it was billed, featured seven Christmas-themed rooms in which the freshmen were pressured to consume large amounts of alcohol, the lawsuit alleges.

At some point after the hazing, the lawsuit claims, Tsialas became intoxicated and disappeared. His body was discovered two days later at the bottom of Fall Creek gorge in Ithaca, New York.

“The Phi Kappa Psi members who had so carefully arranged for his transportation to the fraternity house made absolutely sure no arrangements for his transportation from the fraternity house,” Miami-based attorney David Bianchi and New York-based attorney E. Stewart Jones Jr. wrote in their lawsuit. “Not a single defendant in this case has come forward to tell Antonio’s parents about the circumstances of their son’s departure from the fraternity house that night and none have provided any information about where he went afterwards.”

Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity chapter adviser and eight other fraternity members are named in the suit.

Tsialas’ wallet and keys were found with the body, but his cellphone was missing. Its last known location was the frat house, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit goes on to accuse Cornell of “a long history and culture of fraternity hazing and other forms of misconduct which have marred its reputation.”

University President Martha Pollack issued a public statement in December acknowledging “a persistent culture of misconduct in the Greek-letter system” on campus. The lawsuit claims Tsialas, who had recently graduated from Ransom Everglades School in Miami, died because of Cornell’s “inadequate response to the longstanding and very serious hazing problems that have plagued it for years.”

A request seeking comment from Tsialas’ family was not immediately returned.