reported by the AP 

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A University of Mississippi fraternity has been suspended for a year after a black student said he was the victim of a racial slur and a physical assault at a party, school officials said Friday.

Freshman Jeremiah Taylor, 18, said he was pushed down the stairs while attending a Delta Kappa Epsilon party Aug. 22 on the Oxford campus, according to school officials. The student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, reported Friday on its Web site that Taylor said he was called the N-word at the party.

Taylor, of Southaven, filed a complaint on Aug. 24 with the Dean of Students' office, said Jeffrey Alford, Associate Vice Chancellor for university relations at Ole Miss.

Alford said the party got out of hand and people were asked to leave. Taylor told Mississippi Public Broadcasting in a Sept. 10 radio report that he was on his way downstairs, when "a guy in an orange shirt threw a beer can at me and hit me in my left shoulder." Then others shoved him down the stairs, he said.

This does not make a lot of sense to me. a horrible tragedy happened and one of the families victims wants to sue the other victims (the fraternity) to bring to light "safety issues in fraternity and sorority houses. " Hmmm. . .seems to me there are better ways to do it. perhaps work with ATO and the other victims? perhaps lobby for the Fraternity PAC and the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act which the NIC is pushing for all Greek to obtain safe housing? Nah, lets just sue!

story from wis10.com

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - The families of a student from Georgia and another who died in a 2004 fire at a University of Mississippi fraternity have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in Lafayette County, Mississippi, against Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and The Housing Corporation, the Ole Miss ATO chapter and others. The university isn't listed as a defendant.

The ATO house burned on August 27th, 2004. Three fraternity brothers died in the fire -- 20-year-old Jordan Williams of Atlanta, 19-year-old Will Townsend of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and 19-year-old Howard Stone, of Martinsville, Virginia.

The lawyer for Williams' family said the lawsuit's objective is to bring attention to safety issues in fraternity and sorority houses. Another law firm represents Stone's family. Townsend's family isn't listed as a plaintiff in either complaint.

The lawsuits seek unspecified damages.