OT: Email from SAM about recent scandal

Submitted by MikeCohodes on

I woke up this morning to an email that had come in to all alums of the UM Sigma Alpha Mu chapter (Sigma Iota in internal SAM nomenclature) in light of the recent scandal about the damages at the hotel in upper Michigan. The email came in at 1 AM, so apparently they took a page from the Dave Brandon playbook.  As this has been a topic on the boards lately, and people have been asking me if I have heard anything from SAM yet, I thought I would share with you the email I received. The email is from Alan Greenberg, who is an alumni advisor to the chapter at UM.  Sorry in advance for the long text box.

By now, you have probably heard or seen the bad publicity about Sigma Iota and their ski weekend event in Gaylord, Michigan. Most of it, but not all of it, is true. There were 115 Sammies and about 100 SDT’s on this weekend trip. On Saturday night, things got way out of hand. I am not at liberty to describe what was going on at that time, and also I was not there (obviously). So I do not know exactly what took place. The end result was a lot of damage. The local TV station picked up the story and ran with it, eventually distributing it to every news outlet known to man.

The National immediately took action by placing the chapter on probation and ordering that they cease all regular activities until further notice. That includes social events, fundraisers, taking in pledges, athletics, etc. They also issued an apology on behalf of the National HQ. They have also kept in close touch with our Prior and with me, offering their guidance as to how things should be done. The Prior issued a press release a week ago offering his apologies on behalf of the Chapter. It reads:

We are embarrassed and ashamed of the behavior of a few of our chapter members at Treetops Resort over the weekend of January 17-18. This behavior is inconsistent with the values, policies, and practices of this organization.

Our chapter accepts full responsibility for this incident and we will be working with the management of the resort to pay for all damages and cleaning costs.

We will work within our own organization and with university officials to hold those who are responsible accountable for their actions.

More recently, the chapter has sent a $25,000 good faith deposit to the hotel. The Prior has placed calls to the hotel manager and the mayor of the City. By doing so, he has established a line of communication should either one of these men want to reach out to the chapter. He followed that up with emails of apology to both men, and offered that the brothers were more than willing to come back up there and perform community service for the city of Gaylord. The U of M is conducting an investigation and will turn the information over to a disciplinary panel made up of officers from fraternities and sororities. We don’t know anything further about how the University will handle this or what else they will do.

Needless to say, this is a very serious issue. I have been in charge of the chapter since 2005, and we have had zero problems like this until now. This is a big one. Obviously, we hope that it does not result in our chapter being banned. It is more than ironic that this thing happened among a group of guys who were responsible for winning 3 Founders Cups in a row. The chapter has won the Cup 5 out of the past 7 years and was a close 2nd the other 2 years, one of which we should have been first, but the judges made a scoring error! Going all the way back to 1913 when the 1st Cup was awarded, this 7 year string of success is totally unprecedented.

And then there is academics. Every year the chapter has the highest GPA on campus! The guys have put in a countless number of hours for philanthropic fund raisers, and they have raised 100’s of 1,000’s of dollars. It is really a shame that a small quantity of guys created such a mess for everyone; the National HQ, the other brothers, our House Corporation, and themselves. Things were going great, and then this turned everything around 180 in an instant.

We shall see where the investigation goes and how it will work. I will try to keep you posted.

Fraternally, Alan Greenberg

So, that is what they said. If you want me to not share any further updates I receive from either national or UM SAM in the future, let me know, and I will not post these emails. I only am posting this as I have been asked if I had received anything yet.

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Hail-Storm

January 28th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^

Although his points were bad and poorly formed, he never had one Bolivia type post or melt down/ flame out.  I think your discretion was on point to just let it go. 

Reminds me of the MgoProfit movement to get one of the members back from Bolivia.  Getting reinstated by the board was a cool organic movement.  

Joined: 06/07/2010

MGoPoints: 9776

PeterKlima

January 28th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^

I am only posting one time in this thread and that is to respond to you.

 

My point was that I don't think people should be making a big deal about this or publicly bashing these kids.  The legal process will work and these things will be sorted out.  There is no need to pile on extra condemnation.  They were young, dumb kids.

Also, I think that some of the people making such comments did it based on the fact these kids are "spoiled" or "rich" and I think that makes our fanbase look petty and biased.  Just look at some of thes posts in this thread criticizing this internal email (never intended for the public) for being too positive about their accomplishments in the past.  There is no room for pride for these guys, they should only feel shame at all times!  Just petty, stupid stuff.

I have no affiliation with any fraternity and I used to be immature and probably resent those kids to some degree when I was at Michigan (i.e., their wealth and advatages).  But, I like to think I have matured and that it is possible for people here as well.

FInally, this topic underscores a lot of the threads we see around here year round giving athletes a hard time for running into legal trouble.  It is usually athletes at UM other schools.  Many people want to rush to judge these kids for their actions.

IMO these things should be handled privately and/or by the legal system.  We don't need a thread full of Nancy Grace types who think they know what's best for young kids in trouble.  It is unsightly for this blog.

P.S. - I had fun yesterday with the fact that no one would report their son to the police for xdrunk driving and running into your garage.  It's a crime to drive drunk.  Punishment should be served.  But, in reality our likelihood to call the police depends on how close we are to the person or how much we like them.  If it was your son's best frined or neighboor vs. a kid from another town or a kid from a family you dislike a lot.  On this blog, its craxy that sports team affiliation or greek affiliation should play so heavily into people's perceptions of a just punishment for kids they don't even know.

Joined: 08/24/2008

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GVSUGoBlue

January 28th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

"We will work within our own organization and with university officials to hold those who are responsible accountable for their actions."

This is the part that bothers me. It implies that one brother's action doesn't reflect the whole which is not true at all in Greek life. Obviously there were probably a few that caused more damage than others but to me, this comes off as trying to push the blame away from the chapter. This is just my opinion



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Jon06

January 28th, 2015 at 10:19 AM ^

It implies that one brother's action doesn't reflect the whole which is not true at all in Greek life.

I think you're drinking the Kool-Aid here. Fraternities have gone to great lengths to avoid liability for actions of their members, which they do by arranging their policies so that individuals take all of the blame. Here's an illustrative (and long--sorry) quote from a fascinating article in the Atlantic:

Clearly, a great number of fraternity members will, at some point in their undergraduate career, violate their frat’s alcohol policy regarding the six beers—and just as clearly, the great majority will never face any legal consequences for doing so. But when the inevitable catastrophes do happen, that policy can come to seem more like a cynical hoax than a real-world solution to a serious problem. When something terrible takes place—a young man plummets from a roof, a young woman is assaulted, a fraternity brother is subjected to the kind of sexual sadism that appears all too often in fraternity lawsuits—any small violation of policy can leave fraternity members twisting in the wind. Consider the following scenario: Larry makes a small, human-size mistake one night. Instead of waiting for the slow drip of six warm beers, he brings a bottle of Maker’s Mark to the party, and—in the spirit of not being a weirdo or a dick—he shares it, at one point pouring a couple of ounces into the passing Solo cup of a kid who’s running on empty and asks him for a shot. Larry never sees the kid again that night—not many people do; he ends up drinking himself to death in an upstairs bedroom. In the sad fullness of time, the night’s horror is turned into a lawsuit, in which Larry becomes a named defendant. Thanks in part to the guest/witness list, Larry can be cut loose, both from the expensive insurance he was required to help pay for (by dint of his dues) as a precondition of membership, and from any legal defense paid for by the organization. What will happen to Larry now?

Gentle reader, if you happen to have a son currently in a college fraternity, I would ask that you take several carbon dioxide–rich deep breaths from a paper bag before reading the next paragraph. I’ll assume you are sitting down. Ready?

“I’ve recovered millions and millions of dollars from homeowners’ policies,” a top fraternal plaintiff’s attorney told me. For that is how many of the claims against boys who violate the strict policies are paid: from their parents’ homeowners’ insurance. As for the exorbitant cost of providing the young man with a legal defense for the civil case (in which, of course, there are no public defenders), that is money he and his parents are going to have to scramble to come up with, perhaps transforming the family home into an ATM to do it. The financial consequences of fraternity membership can be devastating, and they devolve not on the 18-year-old “man” but on his planning-for-retirement parents.

Those of you tempted to tl;dr reactions should at least read the first 4 paragraphs of the article, which are hilarious.

Joined: 09/19/2009

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MGlobules

January 28th, 2015 at 9:38 AM ^

(huge movie coming about that that may blow the doors off of some schools) and this incident, I have felt very down on fraternities lately, although plenty of family members on both sides of my family have been members, including of fraternities involved in these discussions. I wrote yesterday that if that many black teenagers had been involved in a melee like that the response would have been very different. If we believe in justice and there was criminal/malicious damage done then criminal charges should be lodged.

But this is a bit of a reminder that there are human beings involved, and some people with a sense of common decency taking charge and responsibility.

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 47549

MGlobules

January 28th, 2015 at 12:00 PM ^

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/movies/the-hunting-ground-a-film-abou…

Of course this threatens some people. It should. But I challenge anyone to pull up those photographs and then imagine if the story were that hundreds of black male teens had gone wild like that, what the response would have been. Instead, we have frat boys here arguing that they should just be allowed to pay the damages.

To pretend that there aren't all kinds of connections would be to bury your head in the sand. I happen to live in Tallahassee, and to be very close to some of these stories. Rape and pillaging have always been closely connected. :)

 

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 47549

StephenRKass

January 28th, 2015 at 9:46 AM ^

Thanks for posting. It sounds like the Sammies are really trying to do the right thing. It also sounds like the fraternity in general has done a great job, between their academic success, their philanthropy, and their involvement in the Greek community.

My guess is that they are going to do their best to identify those responsible for the vandalism, and hold them accountable. Perhaps they will be suspended from attending Michigan for a year or two or three, after which they can return and complete their education.

There was a fascinating article in the Washington Post about a student at Cornell. Keri Blakinger was apprehended with 50k in heroin in 2010. She was suspended indefinitely, banned from campus, and did jail time. Eventually, she reapplied, was readmitted, and was able to complete her education at Cornell. In her case, she was punished and was given a second chance. That seems like it could be appropriate for some here too.

LINK:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/21/heroin-addiction-sent-me-to-prison-white-privilege-got-me-out-and-to-the-ivy-league/

Joined: 07/15/2008

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Haywood Jablomy

January 28th, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^

People should not have their lives ruined for selling pot.  FTFY.  Cripes, man 50k worth of heroin is a life altering bad choice and it should be. I've had over a dozen forner students dead or in jail from hey ron from 2006 till now. In a nice cozy suburb to boot. It is the devil, man. WTF?

Joined: 06/02/2012

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maizenbluenc

January 28th, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

of the Prior's release sounds a heck of a lot like this:

 

when I read it. /S

That said, it does sound like the chapter is owning up to what they have done, and are trying to make restitution responsibly at least.

Still: what were they thinking? ....

Joined: 07/21/2009

MGoPoints: 10630

CoachBP6

January 28th, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

Insert song "it's too late to apologizeeee". /s Nice to see them righting their wrongs. Hopefully they don't get banished.

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