news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL (MCT) — UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp has asked staff members to investigate whether any university or fraternity policies were violated at a party the night that Delta Kappa Epsilon President Courtland Benjamin Smith was shot by police.

According to a post on Thorp's blog, Chapel Hill police contacted the university Aug. 23, the day after the party, and Jenny Levering from the university's Greek Affairs office accompanied the police to the DKE house.

''It was obvious that there had been a party there, with alcohol," Thorp wrote. "I know that doesn't necessarily sound unusual. But in light of the tragedy, we felt that we needed to try to determine whether any university or fraternity policies were violated. So I asked Student Affairs to look into this."

Thorp met with a DKE alumnus, a DKE parent and a student member of the fraternity over the next two days. "Like us, they were concerned about Courtland's tragic death and worried about how it would affect the other fraternity members and Courtland's friends," he wrote. "They were also concerned about the party -- maybe being out of hand."

They asked the university to help DKE set up a substance-abuse education program, which Thorp said staff members will begin working on this week.

The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing Smith's death. On Wednesday, it issued a court order for the fraternity president's e-mail, which UNC-CH's Department of Public Safety provided, Thorp wrote.

Smith, 21, was shot by an Archdale police officer after being stopped on Interstate 85 just before 5 a.m. Aug. 23. He had dialed 911 as he drove west at a high speed. He told a dispatcher that he was trying to kill himself, that he had been drinking and that he had a 9 mm handgun. Authorities haven't said publicly whether he had a gun.

At least one of the two police cars on the scene had a dashboard video camera. A Randolph County assistant district attorney had a judge seal the recording Aug. 25.