In the early morning hours of Oct. 2, 2022, Colorado State University student Sydney Meegan died in Durward Hall.

Two years later, her family is still seeking justice.

Sydney Meegan was a first-year economics major who had recently rushed the Chi Omega sorority and worked at the Student Recreation Center Pool when she died of an allergic reaction in Durward Hall.

On Oct. 1, Jessica and Douglas Meegan, Sydney Meegan’s parents, sued Colorado State University; Brooks Balding and Sophia Cutinello, fellow CSU students who were with her the night she died; Hannah Brock, the resident assistant responsible for the floor Sydney Meegan lived on; and Robert Darling, a CSU Police Department dispatcher who answered distress calls the night of Sydney Meegan’s death.

According to the facts of the case provided by the lawsuit, Cutinello, Balding and Sydney Meegan returned to Balding’s dorm room following dinner.

“Sydney had a long history of a severe allergy to milk products, which was known to Balding, Cutinello and Brock,” the lawsuit states. “​​Upon information and belief, despite this knowledge, Balding and Cutinello still exposed Sydney to milk products along with potential exposure to dangerous drugs and alcohol.” 

According to the lawsuit, Sydney Meegan began complaining of a numb sensation on her tongue and difficulty breathing before going to a friend’s room on the 12th floor of Durward for allergic reaction medication. Shortly after leaving the room, Sydney Meegan collapsed in the hallway.

“This isn’t a situation where somebody stubbed their toe in the bathroom. Sydney lost her life, and so I know it’s going to be a lot of work. I think that’s the gist of it. It’s just all been inadequate.” -Randal Manning, attorney representing the Meegan family

As the RA on duty, Brock was called and subsequently contacted CSUPD’s nonemergency line. According to the suit, Darling, the dispatcher on duty at the time of the incident, did not route the call correctly, delaying lifesaving medical attention. He also did not direct anyone at Durward Hall to perform CPR.

According to the lawsuit, Darling was terminated from his employment with CSUPD following the incident.

Randal Manning, an attorney with Ramos Law, is representing the Meegan family in the lawsuit.

“We’ve just been digging and digging and digging, and we waited till the very last day that we could file a lawsuit because that wasn’t necessarily our hope, and CSU wouldn’t pony up the information that we wanted, and so we’re going to go get it in court,” Manning said.

Manning said the Meegan family requested every single document related to Sydney Meegan’s death as well as body camera footage from police the night of her death. The university would not turn over some of these documents.

“The amount of body camera footage, for example, that I know for a fact they have and haven’t given us is probably enormous, but Sydney died,” Manning said. “This isn’t a situation where somebody stubbed their toe in the bathroom. Sydney lost her life, and so I know it’s going to be a lot of work. I think that’s the gist of it. It’s just all been inadequate.”

Manning said the process of investigating the death was hindered by lack of transparency from the university.

“What kind of atmosphere are people sending their kids to at CSU, and how did that contribute to Sydney’s death?” Manning said. “I think that’s a huge question for CSU to answer. I think there’s a lot of questions about how CSU responded to concerns from students who were there that night. … When I look at what happened here, I just see a broken system that’s not working for these students.”

A statement from CSU addressed the death and acknowledged the forthcoming legal process.

“Sydney Meegan’s death was a tragic medical event, and our hearts continue to go out to her family,” the statement reads. “CSU and its employees were not responsible for her passing, which will be addressed through the legal process.”

Jessica and Douglas Meegan began working with the state legislature to pass SB23-299, “Epinephrine Auto-injectors At Institutions Of Higher Education.” The legislation was first introduced in the Colorado Senate in late April 2023, almost seven months after Sydney Meegan’s death at CSU. It was sponsored by Sen. Lisa Cutter and Reps. Brandi Bradley and Brianna Titone.

The legislation requires that institutions of higher education like CSU “acquire and stock a supply of epinephrine auto-injectors” in order to prevent situations like the one that led to Sydney Meegan’s death from happening in the future.

“An EpiPen is life-saving medication,” Titone said. “We make available (automated external defibrillators) in the event that a cardiac arrest might occur, but you know, this was kind of a thing that I think has been largely overlooked.”

The bill text outlines several key steps that institutions of higher education are “encouraged but not required” to take regarding epinephrine auto-injector access and availability.

The sections of the legislation that are only encouraged are intended to make institutions of higher education take accountability for the safety of their students without punishing them for not meeting every item of the bill, Titone said. This is largely because each institution is in a different financial situation, and not every university has the resources to implement the legislation in its entirety.

“We didn’t want to make it punitive if they didn’t have (the resources),” Titone said. “Having a law like this means … if there’s a situation that happens like this again at another school, the school is really going to be scrutinized by some attorneys who will say, ‘You knew this was a possibility.’”

The legislation was passed by the General Assembly in May 2023 and was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis June 6, 2023.

Though the legislation represents steps toward preventing what happened to Sydney Meegan from happening to other students, it doesn’t undo the events that occurred on CSU’s campus in 2022, and it doesn’t provide any answers for Jessica and Douglas Meegan as they continue to discern exactly what happened the night they lost their daughter.

“I’m speaking on their behalf, but I think they want authenticity, and they want closure, and they want to really know what happened so that people have some idea of what they’re getting into when they send their kids to school,” Manning said.

Manning expressed hope that both the legislation and the lawsuit will bring changes to college campus safety.

“I hate to say it that bluntly because CSU is my alma mater, but I think that they feel betrayed,” Manning said. “I don’t think they had the capacity to warn her of the risks before they made the decision to tell her to go (to CSU) or supported her in going.” 

Reach Hannah Parcells and Allie Seibel at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.