Answer:
D. I see three new students on the roster: Brown, Brian; Jones, Janis; and Monroe, Max.
Explanation:
In this situation, due to commas using two functions may lead to confusion, a semicolon is used as a more powerful comma.
A does not use this, so <em>it could be misread easily</em>.
B puts the semicolon where only a comma could suffice, so <em>it separates the entity "Brown, Brian" and turns it into "Brown" "Brian, Jones"</em>.
C works correctly <em>until the oxford comma, which throws up the entity grouping</em>.
D is the only one that perfectly groups the three entities.