“They are all real good guys,” Anis said. “All of the guys were friends and were real nice guys, real fun guys. They were the kind of guys you’d never expect something like this to happen to.”
The fraternity is independent of the university, but Klasky said Yale has strict policies which prohibit hazing rituals. She said there was no reason to believe the accident or the group’s activities in New York violated those policies.
Fraternity members said DKE officials advised them not to speak about the events preceding the accident and several calls to the national offices in Washington, D.C. were not returned.
News of the accident reached college campuses around the country Friday and Yale Director of Sports Publicity Steve Conn said the athletic department has been overwhelmed by the response to the tragedy.
Harvard has been a part of the outpouring of support.
Barry R. Wahlberg ’03, captain of the baseball team, said his team assembled shortly after the accident to decide how to best show their support for their Ivy-League counterparts.
“We organized as a team for some flowers to be sent over and I wrote a note on behalf of the team and expressed our sorrow,” Wahlberg said.
According to Wahlberg, no one on the Harvard baseball team knew the students involved in the accident but some players felt compelled to do even more and sent a signed baseball bat and personal notes to Yale’s athletic department.
Connecticut State Police said they are still investigating the crash and a final report is not expected for eight weeks.
No one, including the 33-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer which broke through the concrete barrier in the median strip and ran into the path of traffic, has been charged.
J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesperson, said any charges will not be filed until the investigation is complete.
“There will be a thorough, methodical, complete examination of all the evidence before we arrive at any conclusions,” Vance said.
—Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.
—Staff writer Jaquelyn M. Scharnick can be reached at scharnic@fas.harvard.edu.