ALTOONA — The president and several members of a suspended Penn State-Altoona fraternity have sought legal advice after a former member’s family blamed an alleged hazing ritual for the young man’s suicide.

Phi Sigma Kappa member Marquise Braham jumped from the roof of a New York hotel on March 14. Mike Paul, a spokesman for Braham’s family said that information from Braham’s laptop computer and cell phone contain a “tremendous” amount of information suggesting Braham committed suicide because of guilt and distress from unspecified hazing.

The local fraternity’s president, Eric Traister, has denied hazing through his attorney, Ted Krol, who said his client planned to speak with Logan Township police, who are investigating the events before Braham’s death along with campus police. But Krol said the other fraternity members stopped short of speaking to police after a grief counseling session at the school last week “turned out to be a rather aggressive cross-examination.”

Penn State-Altoona spokesman Shari Routch disputed that description, and insisted police were not involved in the grief counseling.

After the session, students were told campus police were investigating and “a sign-up sheet was made available for them if they so chose” to speak to police, Routch said. Although several fraternity members signed up, only one spoke to police last week, she said.

Since then, the newspaper reports several other fraternity members have met with defense attorney Tom Dickey for advice. Dickey is a prominent criminal defense attorney in the Altoona-area.

“These kids thought the world of Marquise. They thought Marquise thought highly of them,” Dickey said. “My feeling is that they are getting a bad rap.”