OT: 5 more UM fraternities & sororities suspended
So, media outlets are reporting that in addition to Sigma Alpha Mu, the 5 additional fraternities and sororities involved in damage to ski resorts have been suspended by their National Organizations.
Pi Kappa and Chi Psi fraternities and Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Phi and Delata Gamma sororities were placed on suspension by their national offices over the weekend, joining Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, which was suspended last week.
The fraternities and sororities inflicted tens of thousands of dollars in damages on scores of rooms rented Jan. 16-17 at Treetops Resort in Gaylord and Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs, according to UM officials.
"These incidents simply do not reflect the University of Michigan's values or its expectations," said E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life. "The behaviors are a contradiction of what it means to be in and of a community, and we do not believe that being away from campus is a license to act in destructive and irresponsible ways."
Note: you would think that the newspaper could get the names right. Pi Kappa? Delata Gamma? It shouldn't be that hard to have an editor figure that out. FTR, the Freep got the names of the frats and sororities right, but they aren't quoted or referenced on this website.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^
1. Democracy
2. The idea of a trial by jury of our peers
3. Greek Mythology
4. Tragedy and Comedy
5. Theater
6. The Olympics
7. The concept of the marathon
8. Geometry, philosophy, medicine, science and advanced architecture
9. Spartans..... for me to poop on
10. An alphabet with vowels in it.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
There is a paywalled article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune about Greece and the European Union. Apparently, they want to restructure the terms of their bailout, and stop living in austerity. They could be moving toward pulling out of the EU and the use of the Euro. Fascinating, and ultimately much more important than anything happening with fraternities and sororities.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^
Some in the EU have threatened to kick them out for a long time. I took a class on ancient Greek history and the professor would go off on tangents sometimes (he was fluent in ancient and modern Greek) about the headlines in the Greek papers sarcastically referring to the German finance minister as Rommel, the WW2 general. It's been a problem since 2009 that hasn't gotten appreciably better.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^
or being forced out by Germany. Germany, ECB and IMF will not allow for a reduction in debt.
January 27th, 2015 at 5:05 PM ^
they (governmental organizations) are more likelihood to so than vulture capitalists like Elliott Management and Dart Financial, who have already profited spectacularly by refusing to do so.
January 27th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^
His radical financial ideas, support for Russia, and his concerns over the European approach to the Ukraine crisis is cause for concern. Two Greek officials told The WSJ that a strongly-worded statement on Russia issued by EU leaders earlier today did not have the consent of the new Prime Minister. Not a promising start, and tensions may further increase should the EU decide on further sanctions against Moscow. On to more important things ; ) Olympiakos have just appointed former Porto head coach Vitor Pereira as their new manager. Olympiakos are back on top of table after their 6th straight win but apparently that was not good enough. I have found most Greeks friendly and laid back until soccer is brought up.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
sorry, wrong script... carry on.
January 27th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
Don't forget saganaki and taramosalata.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
This was well written and informative. Thanks for your comments.
"I would argue that in a Fraternity, like a team, you are always representative of the name on the front moreso than the name on the back. We choose who we decide to initiate into our Fraternity, thus we have vouched for their character." This is a key statement, and it goes several levels deep.
- We're responsible first of all for those in our own organization. It seems that Sigma Alpha Mu brothers who were present at Treetops had the greatest responsibility to rein in brothers who were destroying property.
- We're responsible secondly for (implicitly) condoning the actions of those whom we associate with. This is, I suspect, the reason the sororities have been suspended. You can't be along for the ride without some blame coming your way.
- We're responsible for the greater association. This is why all Greeks have a bit of a black eye. There are benefits to being part of the panhellenic association. This is one of the costs.
- We're responsible to the University. As students at UofM, the destructive actions reflect on the University, so UofM has a bit of a black eye. This is the reason why we mock Ohio State and Michigan State. When OSU fans poop in coolers and MSU fans burn couches, it reflects on their entire university, even though very few students do either. We can't have it both ways: if we mock other schools for the actions of a very few, we have to see that our own University is open to criticism as well.
The entire Greek system shouldn't be judged. I was in a fraternity myself. But the entire Greek system needs to censure, hold accountable, and potentially expel those who fail to abide by agreed upon standards of behavior.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
The biggest issue I see today with new undergrads, or more accurately 18 year olds in general, is a sense of entitlement. We have a recruitment workshop to teach our members how to ask useful questions to probe information about a person's character and how to do so without being creepy. Past actions are the best predictor of future behavior. There are a lot of these kids who have never had to work for anything and don't appreciate how much work needs to go into an organization to allow it to be sucessful. We try to identitfy this and target people with a sense of values and only getting what one earns, but that isn't always the case. Our pledge program helps to remedy the problem, but you can't fix an 18 year problem in 8 weeks; it's not possible.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
And another to damage someone elses property especially when the resort was given assurances that the frat/sorority memebers would behave. I would think and hope that when certain members of a frat damage their own house, there are others frat members there to make them accountable for their actions. It appears there was NO ONE that did so in this case and we are talking about 6 total frat and sororities. How many dozens of people just walked away without taking any sort of responsibility?
January 27th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
Perhaps had YOU written the thoughtful apology letter and those actually accountable made sincere efforts to immediately rectify the situation (besides my parents will pay for the damages) this whole thing would be a one day local story?
My sense from the Treetop's GM and others up there is that this is likely the case and they are not looking for this type of publicity for themselves either. I personally would think twice before vacationing up there next January.
January 27th, 2015 at 1:54 PM ^
January 27th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
I don't think the fact that Sammy is a Jewish Fraternity shapes most of the people on this board's opinion one way or the other...at least I hope not. It doesn't matter to me if they are white, black, orange, Muslim, Jewish, Scientologist, or whatever; what happened is terrible and there should be consequences for those involved, irrespective of their religious beliefs.
I would argue that you bringing up the contributions to the endowment is more "subtly anti Semetic" (your exact words) than most of what is said on this blog.
January 27th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^
Before your comment there was one other reference to a Jewish organization, and it wasn't even the fraternity in question. You brought race/religion into this for some unknown, stupid reason.
This has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It has to do with being anti-asshole. I think everyone is in agreement that whatever fraternities/sororities/organizations involved regardless of background should be held accountable for poor behaviour.
Troll somewhere else.
January 27th, 2015 at 2:37 PM ^
The poster I was replying to directly mentioned Anti-Semitism. Thus, I was not the one who brought up religion. I sad that it shouldn't matter. We are basically saying the same thing: it doesn't matter what your race/religion is, in short, don't be an asshole.
Also, I replied to a guy who made an account today and has 0 MGoPoints due to being negged...and I'm the troll here?!?
January 27th, 2015 at 2:39 PM ^
I was responding to the same poster, Frank Gallagher, that you did.
ETA: The indents can be tough to see sometimes, I've made same mistake.
January 27th, 2015 at 2:39 PM ^
My bad...carry on.
January 27th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
January 27th, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^
You keep using that word. I don't think you know what it means.
January 27th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^
January 27th, 2015 at 2:21 PM ^
Ann Arbor is a place where future leaders make connections and blow off steam for a few years after high school.
I could have sworn I spent the majority of my college years in Ann Arbor getting a degree. Maybe my memory is already failing me...
January 27th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^
January 27th, 2015 at 2:34 PM ^
Feds, someone take away Mr. Madoff's computer!
January 27th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
I don't throw out subtle anti-Semitic remarks... rather, I send out crystal clear anti-fratboy douche remarks.
And for the record... there's been 3 threads on the topic and NOT ONCE, did someone make an anti-Semitic remark. That's 700+ comments previously.
January 27th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
Y'all need to check your privilege.
January 27th, 2015 at 4:18 PM ^
I don't know what to think until we know more ...
January 27th, 2015 at 5:01 PM ^
January 27th, 2015 at 10:33 PM ^
and civil cases are built for lost revenue and repair costs, why haven't these students been expelled? This might be a stretch, but I am sure they broke the student code of conduct in a major way with what they did.
Their actions are a clear display of disregard and disrespect for the property of others and they broke the trust of another when they said they would behave and then do this. The value of your character is weighed by keeping your word and showing and being respectful. They're a bunch of spoiled brats.
They need to learn that they cannot go through life as the son or daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moneybags doing whatever they want to do and get away with it because mommy and daddy can write a check to make everything okay.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:27 AM ^
I have been personally involved in the administration of disciplinary actrion in a higher educational setting elsewhere. Sometimes, a student can be suspended from their school for a period of time. This theoretically gives them the opportunity to reflect on their poor choices. They can choose to never return, and to transfer elsewhere (assuming they can find a school that will accept them.) They also can choose to reapply and to come back to finish their degree several years later. While a few years seems like an eternity to an 18 year old, it really doesn't matter that much in the big picture. And it is the needed wakeup call to what life is really like for many.
There was a fascinating and informative article in last week's Washington Post. Keri Blakinger was a former competitive figure skater on a national level who attended Cornell. Cornell suspended Blakinger indefinitely after she was apprehended with more than 50k of heroin. In her case, she served prison time and worked on the outside before reapplying to Cornell. She graduated from Cornell last month. This was a 4 year delay, but she was fortunate to get a second chance. In other words, even with difficult punishment, you can move on in a healthy way. The shame is that we live at a time and in a culture when there are too few painful circumstances.
I myself was kicked out of UofM for poor grades, largely self-inflicted. It was painful, and hard work, but I eventually was able to continue at UofM and graduated, albeit delayed a few years. I wouldn't trade that part of my education for anything.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
To have overcome imperfection is better than to have been perfect.