Attorneys are now involved in the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity situation, according to Zeev Dansiger, whose son Adam Dansiger '00 wrote the letter to the College that started the investigation which led to the fraternity's derecognition -- however it is still unclear whether a lawsuit is in the works.
Zeev Dansiger declined to say whether an actual suit had been filed against the College.
College Counsel Sean Gorman said his office has not yet had any contact with the Dansiger family. He said if an attorney working on behalf of the Dansiger family had contacted anyone else at the College, he would have heard about it.
Former Phi Delt President Matt K. Nelson '00 said that to the best of his knowledge, no lawsuit had been filed against Phi Delt by the Dansiger family.
Dansiger said because of the legal situation, he was not able to provide a copy of Adam's letter to The Dartmouth, or comment on the specifics of the letter. Officials at Phi Delt and the College have also refused to provide the letter.
Dansiger said it was entirely his son's idea to write a letter to the College -- he assured The Dartmouth that "Adam has still retained a lot of his personality. He wrote his own letter. I did not at any time push him."
As a result of the letter, and the subsequent investigation by the College, Phi Delt was found guilty of tolerating drug use within the frat house, dirty rushing large numbers of freshmen, harassing pledges and providing alcohol to minors.
Zeev Dansiger confirmed that he and his son were in Hanover for the Feb. 21 hearing. He said at that time, they drove past the Phi Delt house at 5 Webster Ave.
"He looked at the house and he started to cry," Dansiger said, explaining that the memories the house invoked were overwhelming.
He said his son's long-term memory primarily remained intact after his October 1997 accident when he was thrown from his Mazda Navajo when driving south toward Hanover on Interstate 89.
At the time, doctors at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center did not expect him to live for 24 hours, but after emerging from his coma and spending months in rehabilitation, Adam Dansiger returned to his home on Staten Island.
While it is clear Adam's father links the accident to Phi Delt in some way, neither he, nor Nelson would comment on any potential connection.
"I'm very bitter about a lot of things," Adam's father said. "But not as bitter as Adam. Things have been denied to him."
He said Adam still has many medical problems related to his accident. He said he has problems with his short term memory and his working memory. He is blind and deaf on the right side. His body cannot produce its own hormones. He keeps falling down and he is constantly tired, but can never sleep because of all the injuries.
But Dansiger said it is not Adam's bitterness over his injuries that prompted him to write the letter -- he said his son realized as his recovery progressed that he got "in with the wrong crowd" at Dartmouth, which eventually led to the near-fatal accident.
Dansiger said when his son was attending Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, he was deeply involved in sports, and was "clean" -- he said he could not even describe his son as a social drinker as a high school student.
However, Dansiger said his fraternity at Dartmouth "influenced him into" following a different course, which "turned his life upside-down."
When asked about his opinion about the Phi Delt derecognition, Dansiger said, "I feel very sad that it had come to that, but there was no other recourse."
He and his son returned to campus for Dartmouth's homecoming last year -- one year after the accident had occurred -- and again during Green Key weekend of 1999.
Dansiger said over Green Key, he was acting as a facilitator to his son "so he wouldn't fall down," and they spent Friday and Saturday nights, as well as time during the day Saturday at Phi Delt.
"I've seen enough for any parent to sit there with his jaw dropped," he said, although he declined to comment on the exact activities that he witnessed.
Dansiger said he got the impression from his time at Phi Delt and his previous interactions with Adam's fraternity brothers, that many of the students did not support his son.
"There's no question that some people up in that area would have preferred to see Adam not recover from his injuries and perish from it," Dansiger said about some Phi Delts. "He is the living evidence of what went on."
However, Nelson said "We were at the hospital day in and day out throughout the whole time he was there."
He said it was harder for brothers to visit Dansiger once he had moved back to New York, but some did go to see him.
Dansiger said some -- but not all -- of the administrators he has dealt with have been "very cooperative, sympathetic and understanding." He said the College did a thorough, methodical investigation. However, he said it was hard on him and his son to relive painful experiences while testifying.
He said the letter and the investigation it prompted were important because the process may keep future students from having to deal with the tragedy that his family has faced.
"I would say the most important intent of everything we have done is to stop certain activities from taking place," he said. "For the most part, the kids are nice, clean cut, but there is an element, and that element is a problem."
Dansiger said his son is currently attending a local college, but he said he has no greater dream than to see Adam return to Dartmouth.
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