The three football players from Colorado State University involved in a fight last month were expelled from the university Friday.

The school said the expulsion of Nordly Capi, Mike Orakpo and Colton Paulhus will take effect Monday.

The April 6 fight involved 10 CSU students and one nonstudent. Six of the students were football players, but only three were charged.

Capi, Orakpo and Paulhus — as well as freshman Donny Gocha, who was not mentioned in Friday’s announcement — were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Gocha and freshman J.D. Haley were hospitalized after the fight with serious injuries.

The university’s Office of Conflict Resolution & Student Conduct Services made the decision, which allows for an appeal by May 15. Expulsion means the students are permanently removed from the university.

The three men were suspended from the football team immediately after the incident. They have not been allowed to return to campus.

Jack Graham, CSU’s director of athletics, said head coach Jim McElwain had already decided to kick the players off the team before Friday’s announcement but chose not to go public with that decision so as to not influence the university’s decision.

“We are a part of the university; we don’t lead it,” Graham said. “He felt it was in the best interest of his team to move forward without those players.”

Fort Collins police say they found hypodermic needles and foil packages marked as anabolic steroids in Paulhus’ residence. They also discovered nine unmarked vials and syringes, three of which were used, in Orakpo’s room, according to a police report. Marijuana paraphernalia was found at the players’ residences, but it could not be directly linked to the players because they all have roommates.

No charges have been filed in connection with the alleged drugs.

“We do drug testing bi-weekly, which is far above the national average,” Graham said Friday. “I think that we have every right that we have an expectation that our athletes will be drug-free.”

Graham said that he was proud of the football team’s coach and staff for acting “quickly and definitively.”

All three of the players have adamantly denied illegal drug use, but Graham does not believe them.

“I think anytime someone lies to you, it compounds the problem,” Graham said. “The drugs were just the exclamation mark.”