Colgate University has won its first legal skirmishes in its effort to assert control over the school's raucous fraternities after nearly a year of court battles.

A lawsuit was dismissed last week that claims the university coerced a fraternity into selling its house to the college as part of what the school said was a larger plan to supervise students better. And last Wednesday, the district attorney declined the fraternity's request to investigate Colgate for potential criminal charges over the same plan.

"Over all, it's confirmation of what we felt all along - that what we are doing is fair and legally sound," said Charles J. Melichar, a spokesman for the university.

But the battle is far from over. Other lawsuits against the college by different groups of fraternity alumni are pending.

Colgate, in Hamilton, N.Y., about 30 miles southwest of Utica, began revamping student housing after years of problems at its fraternity houses, including hazing, sexual assaults and binge-drinking parties. The school's worst tragedy occurred in November 2000, when a drunken fraternity member crashed his car into a tree, killing four people, including a freshman, Katie Almeter, 18.

That event spurred the college into action. In 2003, Colgate unveiled a plan that required nearly all students to live in college-owned housing. As part of the plan, it told its Greek-letter organizations that if they did not turn over their houses to the college, the fraternities and sororities would not be recognized - meaning the end of all their activities. If they sold or donated their houses, students could still belong to the organizations and still live in the houses, though the college would essentially supervise them.

All but one of the Greek-letter organizations turned over their property by this summer. Nearly all of the university's 2,750 students now live in buildings where campus officials can provide some oversight.

A sole Greek-letter organization, Delta Kappa Epsilon, did not sell. It was derecognized. Colgate students are not permitted to live there or to participate in that fraternity's activities. If they do, they face disciplinary action, including expulsion.

Fraternity alumni filed suit in federal court claiming that Colgate violated the First Amendment and antitrust laws by creating a monopoly on student housing. That suit is expected to be decided in the spring.

Delta Kappa Epsilon alumni have filed a second suit in State Supreme Court, seeking to overturn Colgate's decision to withdraw recognition from the fraternity.

The fraternity's lawyers also tried to prompt a criminal investigation by the Madison County district attorney's office by filing a complaint alleging criminal coercion by the university in trying to force the group to sell. But Donald F. Cerio Jr., the district attorney, notified Colgate last week that he would not investigate.

Two other groups of fraternity alumni filed suit in State Supreme Court earlier this year, trying to undo their sales by claming they were coerced. One of those, filed in July by Phi Delta Theta, was dismissed on Dec. 5 by Justice William F. O'Brien III, who ruled that only the fraternity's board of directors - not the alumni - could file suit on behalf of the organization. The lawyers in the case were to meet last Friday to discuss any further legal options.

A similar lawsuit, filed by alumni of Beta Theta Phi, awaits a review.

Dozens of fraternity alumni have signed on to the lawsuits against Colgate, driven by a 1958 alumnus, Charles H. Sanford III, a Colorado real estate executive who maintains that the university is trying to eliminate Greek life on campus. Mr. Sanford says fraternities do many more good works than they get credit for and provide immense social benefits, including lifelong friendships.

Robert Almeter, whose daughter Katie was killed in the car crash in 2000, said that she had had great friends, too. They were visiting her the day of the accident, and they died with her in the car. After the crash, two families sued Delta Kappa Epsilon, the drunken driver's fraternity, and won.

After that, Mr. Almeter became determined to change what he calls "campus culture." He hopes to stop students from ending up like Katie and her friends, or like the driver, who was paroled in 2004, after serving nearly three years in prison for vehicular manslaughter.

Each year, Mr. Almeter drives from his home in upstate Norwich, giving dozens of lectures to students throughout the state. On Dec. 1, he spoke at a high school close to Colgate. Before Mr. Almeter's talk, he and his wife, Elizabeth, who are spending their fifth holiday season without her, stopped by the campus, which created a memorial garden in Katie's name. They laid a Christmas wreath there. "There's a huge hole in all of us," Mr. Almeter said.