Grand jury: Penn State showed 'shocking apathy' to drinking

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A grand jury's report in the wake of a fraternity pledge's drinking death said today Penn State officials displayed "a shocking apathy" to dangers from excessive drinking and that its inaction allowed criminal acts to occur.

Penn State strongly objected to that characterization in a 144-page report released by a district attorney in Pennsylvania, saying it made extraordinary efforts to combat drinking and hazing.

The report recommends a series of changes that the school should undertake in the wake of the death of 19-year-old Tim Piazza in February.

It pointed to numerous assaults, injuries or alcohol-related emergencies in the last several years involving fraternities, and said it is unreasonable for Penn State to disavow all accountability for its failure to reform the fraternity system.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said the grand jury found that Penn State officials knew enough about the abuse of drinking and hazing in the fraternity system to have been more proactive to stop it.

"They found that they knew a great deal of it, and that they should know the rest. If they didn't know, it was a deliberate, like, 'don't want to know,'" Parks Miller said at a news conference.

As far back as 2009, Penn State officials were "remarkably undisturbed" by allegations of heavy alcohol consumption at one particular fraternity and showed a "shocking apathy to the potential danger associated with doing nothing."

In a 70-page response to the report submitted to the judge, Penn State said it has aggressively promoted safety and accountability in the fraternity system, in 2009 and before that, and should not be criticized for not doing more.

Penn State, however, said its efforts are limited by the unwillingness of national fraternities, their associations, undergraduate members and alumni "to challenge behavior that has been accepted for years across the nation" and accept major change.