Update: Treetops Resort now reports $430,000 in damages
Sorry to poke a finger in a black eye, but this story just gets worse. If you don't want to reiterate, move along.
I can only imagine the pressure inside this frat and the finger pointing, the divergent needs to cover one's own ass and rat out a fellow "brother" versus the wish to circle the wagons. The stereotype says that these kids have a "rich parents" who can easily dole out the money and get their kids off the hook. I'm not so sure about that. And anyway, this is some serious coin we are talking about.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/02/treetops_resorts_…
You obviously have never owned a business. Because if you did, you'd feel a lot differently about a group of people wantonly destroying everything you've worked almost every day of your life to build.
No idea what you're talking about.
Didn't say Treetops was in the wrong.
Completely disregard the 400k or more it'll take to repair everything. If Treetops does decide to move forward with criminal prosecution, what are the legal fees going to be for the fraternity? This isn't going to be solved by calling Mommy and Daddy and asking them to foot the bill.
I feel somewhat bad for the people in those houses who did not participate or go along for the weekend. Their names are going to get dragged through the mud just as much as the idiots who started all of this. Don't think for one second that employers won't be aware of what happened, and any one of them will be lucky to end up with a job at McDonalds after graduation.
I'm honestly shocked they're just not kicking the idiots out who specifically caused the damages.
They're willing to sacrifice years' of hard work for a few knuckleheads. Not to mention, they're taking down SDT with them...
What the hell is wrong with these morons?
Then again I have a different perspective in that I actually helped build my fraternity into what it is now vs. pledging into an already successful one.
I think its really difficult to pinpoint exactly who was responsible for the damages, as well as how much each person was responsible for. I doubt anyone was sitting there with a pad and paper that night and taking notes. People will deny deny deny when they're asked if they caused this amount of damage. They don't want to pay more in damages than the next guy.
Since it sounds like this was an official, fraternity-sponsored event, I think all you can do at this point is just have every member of the house pay up, or Treetops requests a list of who was there, and those people pay up. But again, since it was fraternity-sponsored, Treetops might try and get everyone to pay up, regardless of whether you were there or not.
I think they're all playing ignorant. I'm positive there were at least some partially sober brothers/sisters to keep people in line in case or help people who go overboard drinking. I'm guess they either shut up and played dumb or are purposely not talking.
A sorority wouldn't sign off on going to a ski trip for a weekend unless there were sober monitors/policies involved.
I'm sure a few will turn once they get presented with the criminal charges and massive individual bill if there are any.
on my resume. Some people immediately judge you when they see you were in the Greek systerm. Sounds crazy, I know....
Its not crazy at all, and I don't blame you for doing it. I was a member of the Greek system in my time at Michigan, and I knew plenty of people, whether they went to the school or not, who were disgusted by the idea of joining a fraternity or a sorority. They assumed we were all a bunch of shallow, insecure drunks who had to pay for friends.
Unfortunately, sometimes those prejudices never really go away, and those people end up in the hiring seat. There are certainly plenty of bad apples out there when it comes to fraternities and sororities. This story proves that in spades. But there's also plenty of people who go through Greek life and become better people because of it.
I'm sure most of the people in the Greek system turn out just fine, but when I was on campus there were certain frats that had a well-earned and very dickish reputation. Kind of a gangster mentality develops--either you're one of us or you're a schmuck. Plus the whole rush thing always seemed childish and often quite devastating for people who didn't get in. Rush was terrible for some of the girls I knew. Then again I've never been much of a joiner...so different strokes.
Sometime stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.
Number 1 way to clean the Greek system up? Stop being a bunch of shallow, insecure, drunks.
20 years ago when I was briefly in a frat, we had our formal at Treetops and had a fantastic time. Everyone had fun, and some of us got laid too.
To see this type of destruction in the photos is indicative of the era that we live in. Kids today, simply are more destructive to themselves and others, than they were just 20 years ago. As to the reasons why this is, I have my opinions but those are for another thread.
These kids should be prosecuted.
Drat! I was really looking forward to reading your presumably objective and evidence-based rationale for that assertion. Guess I'll just have to keep on wondering and go back to vandilizing local store fronts and not respecting my elders.
I was at the Treetops with 3 friends last fall in Aug for a golf weekend and destroyed nothing other than a drive on a Par 5 LOL. I did note at that time the resort is definitely on the downhill slide in terms of condition, just to try to capture the point, the siding on the facade of the building we stayed at needed paint in a bad way. Other little details inside like some stains on the carpets, etc. Not what you'd expect at a resort. I infer from this they are strapped for cash, and I had heard separately that the entire thing was up for sale.
The "brand damage" to me seems like initial posturing to ultimately arrive at a larger, but reduced settlement. Instead of undertaking the costs of trying to litigate the entire $430k down to actual expenses, attempt to inflate the initial number so negotiations can arrive at say $200k. As opposed to asking for actual $200k and having this negotiated down to $100k.
Most people with a shred of intelligence probably question how $40-50k initially reported got to $430k this week. Its not like they set the place on fire and damaged the structure.
These guys must of gotten into the Absnithe and seen the green fairy!!!
If it was any of us in this blog I think we would still be sitting in jail.
I can't even imagine how this is playing out on the sparty blog sites like RCMB.
Like how everything else UM related plays out. They have a 10 page thread about it as if it's their own school. Obsessed bastards.
If you're actually curious though, I checked, the thread devolved into some discussion about Jews filled with overgeneralizations.
Went through the thread out of curiosity. They compared Michigan students to ISIS...so...uh...there's that.
of the university that you are referring to, which I will not name, don't seem to have much of an understanding of international affairs.
Nor the cesspool known as Cedar Heights in their own backyard.
Don't get me wrong. These kids should pay for damage to make the business whole and put it back in the same position. But, these damages they are claiming are speculative at best and possibly even being asserted in bad faith.
Here's a joke for you all: 3 guys are sitting on a beach in the Caribbean islands. They start talking and find out they all moved there around the same time. The first says he had a small business in Connecticut, but it burned to the ground. He moved down soon thereafter. The second one explains he also had a small business in Nebraska that was gutted and robbed of its inventory.. He bought a boat and was doing some sailing to get his mind off things. Finally, the last guy reveals that he too had his own business in California, but lost it in an earthquake. The first two guys look at him and both ask "How do you start an earthquake?!?!?"
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I don't think you understand the basics of bankruptcy, as evidenced by your frequent assertions that the payment of the damages claimed will somehow help Treetops "bail out a failing business". Treetops' bankruptcy is under the supervision of the federal bankruptcy court, and anyone who's ever been involved with a large bankruptcy proceeding can tell you that it's a very cumbersome, time consuming, and costly process. Even if they were to miraculously recover all of the claimed $430,000 (litigation within bankruptcy is complicated further still), that amount, after attorney fees and other costs, would not even make a dent in their total indebtedness.
There is a huge difference between the Treetops situation and that of a guy with a failing business who decides to torch it. Once the federal bankruptcy courts are involved, as they are with Treetops, there's no way a comparatively small damage settlement is going to somehow save the business. The whole situation is a hinderance to their exit from bankruptcy; not a help.
Want to know the amount of downvotes you have received in this thread. It's quite amazing.
You have to admit one thing. PK is at least consistent.
than in my entire 4 years on the blog. oh well, there goes my shot at the ginsu knives, just not enough points now.
thread about the new damages total being a load of scat and piling on by treetops. the kids deserve consequences for their stupidity, but it shouldn't include an otherwise righteous victim-business making things up from whole cloth.
These kids should pay for damage to make the business whole and put it back in the same position as well as being charged with any criminal penalties for which their offense qualifies.
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I'm just excited to have a bit more "frat vs. non-frat students" and "snotty rich kids" arguments on this site! Yippee!
"I'm just excited to have a bit more "frat vs. non-frat students" and "snotty rich kids" arguments on this site! Yippee!"
It's a rather constant theme on campus, no surprise it spills onto web forums. But when you destroy $25k or $100k+ at ski lodges you are in fact a rich snot. Even a % of that would bankrupt most lower means families.
It isn't a constant issue on campus, unless college has demonstrably changed from 15 years ago when I was in A2. Yes, money is discussed in certain circles, but the idea that every frat member is rich and that there is this massive class divide reeks of lazy internet talk. But whatever, at this point these posts are just good comedy to see PeterKilma show up and trying to mitigate what happened with specious reasoning.
Regaring the frat boy / nice boy / poor boy routine. I just don't know what it provides to the dialogue.
However, having just completed a major remodel or renovation on our home in Ann Arbor, I am not surprised that the estimated damages now exceed $400,000. These kids basically destroyed every brick, stud, ceiling and furniture in how many units?
What in the world were they thinking?
Was there no one to say "Hey guys and girls this is not right?"
I hope that every agency, including public safety groups, goes after their pockets.
I cannot wrap my mind around the complete level of jackassery it requires to cause that much damage. If U-M wants to expel these dumbasses, I do not have a problem with that.
I agree, but I can pretty well GUARAN-GODDAMN-TEE you that any expulsion would be aggressively litigated.
To be fair, a substantial portion are in response to the PK show.