A year after their son died from falling off a 23rd-floor balcony, the parents of Washington University student Yongsang Soh are pressuring the University to take responsibility for their loss.

As a senior last year, Soh fell from an apartment in The Dorchester on Forest Park building, and a jogger found his body on the morning of Oct. 26, 2013. The death was originally pronounced a suicide, but Soh’s cause of death has recently been changed to undetermined, with the presence of LSD in his system given as a factor.

In a lengthy document Student Life obtained that outlines both the circumstances surrounding Soh’s death and the University’s treatment of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, of which Soh was an active member before its derecognition in July 2012, Soh’s family explains its case against the University. It additionally requests a settlement of $50 million for damages and a promise of changes in student discipline procedures in exchange for keeping its concerns quiet.

The University rejected the proposal, and the Soh family’s local attorney, Albert Watkins, said he anticipates filing a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis later this week.

In the letter given to the University, Soh’s family states that Soh, before attending the University, had no history of drug use. Once he arrived and rushed the SAM fraternity, though, the family claims he was exposed to a group “with a longstanding and notorious history of drug use, distribution, and exploitation of minors.”

The family’s argument centers on the University’s allegedly lenient behavior toward SAM members’ drug violations, with the Washington University Police Department referring such students to an internal justice system—involving departments such as Judicial Affairs and Residential Life— rather than for criminal prosecution.

“The University chose not to refer these matters to the proper authorities for criminal prosecution as would otherwise be required by any other law enforcement authority,” the document states.

“Instead,” it adds, “the University preserved and maintained the integrity of the public perception of its commercial enterprise by delivering independent justice which placed The University community and the surrounding community, including Soh, in immediate harm’s way.”

On the night of his death, Soh had consumed multiple tablets of LSD, the document states.

The family’s letter alleges, “The last hours of Soh’s life were spent…engaging in drug fueled interaction with his SAM House compatriots (many of whom had been identified by The University as being involved in criminal activities, the SAM House, drug possession and distribution[)].”

In 1999, SAM was suspended for two years for a hazing investigation, and it was moved off campus in 2008 due to a WUPD drug bust at the chapter’s house. In 2012, after additional hazing and drug allegations, the chapter lost both its national charter and official University recognition.

It was between the latter two disciplinings, in 2010, that Soh enrolled in the University and joined the fraternity, the document states.

Jill Friedman, vice chancellor for public affairs, refuted the notion that the University was too lenient in handling drug cases, particularly the 2012 SAM investigation.

“The university took serious disciplinary action against involved students – up to and including permanent termination – and referred individual cases to the local prosecutor for consideration of criminal charges,” Friedman said in a statement.

The University would not comment further about specifics of Soh’s case or the letter because it involves a pending legal matter, Friedman said.

Other evidence against a potential suicide, as outlined in the family’s letter, includes a private investigator’s finding that Soh had not searched for any terms relating to suicide on his laptop in the days preceding his death. Instead, the document continues, Soh had spent that time online shopping and purchasing tickets for a baseball game to be played after his death.

The Soh family operates a chain of Papa John’s restaurants in South Korea, and they expected Youngsang Soh to take over the business in the future, according to the letter. Watkins said that the $50 million amount was chosen to be a financially meaningful amount to the University.

Despite also demanding financial recompense, Watkins said, “The primary goal of the Soh family is to implement change necessary to prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again. As part of that demand…there was a demand that the University demonstrate accountability in a meaningful fashion.”