OT: Email from SAM about recent scandal
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.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:51 AM ^
January 28th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
While that would have been fitting, given the tone of the email, the subject line was the far more apt "SAM at Michigan"
January 28th, 2015 at 4:45 PM ^
I've been a pretty vocal, and obnoxious, ciritic of how this situation has been handled. Like @sierragold said the other day, there's been a lot of crap thrown at the people who have spoken up.
But...
I would like to take a moment to thank-you for posting the email and for being a straight shooter regarding this dicussion. Much appreciated.
January 28th, 2015 at 5:11 PM ^
I'm glad to help out and share my views, given that I am in the position of actually having been a SAM at UM. I'd like to think I've been just as vocal (see my posts in the other threads on this) as many on here, as I am deeply embarrased by these guys giving both my frat and my school a bad name.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^
news outlets were saying something like $50k in damages. While the accuracy of that is probably questionable, there is nothing in the e-mail that says what they will do if the $25k is insufficient to cover damages. Would have been good to clear that up.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
he said it was a good faith deposit. That would imply there'll be more to come once they know exact numbers.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
"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."
If only a "few" of the members caused the damage shown then those boys were working round the clock to destroy things from the minute they arrived to the moment they departed.
Seems to me like your President is trying to deflect the incident by calling attention to all the wonderful things they did prior to this unfortunate incident. Reads to me a lot like the Ray Rice defense - "Yeah I knocked her ass out but hey - look at all the sick kids I visited in the hospital!"
January 28th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
Bingo
January 28th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^
I think the implication is that a few of their members were cooperating with people from outside the fraternity.
But let's remember that this letter was not written for the public. From the perspective of the larger group of fraternity members and alumni, it is a small group of them that has embarassed them all. I don't have a problem with them internally reminding themselves of their positive attributes at at time like this. Would be a different story if this was supposed to be their public apology.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 28th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^
Who gives a crap if it was not meant for the public. It STILL illustrates a concerning amount of denial from leadership!
Why is that so hard to comprehend?
January 28th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
I don't see it that way. The message does not deny what happened.
But my point is that the tone of the message should be interpreted in relation to its purpose and its intended audience. I don't think that's controversial.
January 28th, 2015 at 4:41 PM ^
I don't disagree with you at all the message doesn't deny what happened.
What I, and other commenters, are saying is all the other shit in there is disingenuous.
Yeah man we fucked up but look at the unprecedented 7 years of Founder's Cup victories brah.
Whether or not the email is internal or external that shows that organization still doesn't FULLY accept what happened.
There would be much more positive reaction if the "but" wasn't in there.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
I regret never joining a frat in college.
/said by no one ever.
January 28th, 2015 at 11:10 AM ^
January 28th, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^
but I along with many of my friends in Greek Life believe joining was far and away the best decision we made in college.
People are angry and rightfully so. I am not going to try and convince you of that point, but as a mod pointed out above, this board's Greek bashing is getting mighty old.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^
and Greek life will stop being bashed. The problem is that this kind of stuff happens on a fairly regular basis and every single time we get spokemen saying "well it's not representative of the fraternity system." When you get incidents like this (and worse) happening every few years on some campus it becomes pretty darn representative.
January 28th, 2015 at 5:09 PM ^
Like I said the other day... in the big boy world perception is reality. Is that fair? All the time, no. But it's reality. Why you're seeing so much pushback is two fold:
1. The actions of a few have tarnished everything associated with Michigan.
2. The lack of accountability on the part of the community.
Fix that and I think you'll see some the emotion die down. It would for me.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
GDI for ever!
January 28th, 2015 at 10:09 AM ^
If the hotel and local media didn't publicize the story the "sammies" wouldn't be so forthright and accountable. They have high grade points and win the Founders Cup...so they know better. I guess that's why its a mistake.
Until this, "a few chapter members..." only to be compounded by this, "a small quantity of guys..." That damage was not done by a small quantity or a few guys. It is condescending and offensive to continue to put forth such drivel. So much for taking full accountability.
Non response expected
January 28th, 2015 at 10:28 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 28th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
Having said all that, the general content and tone of the email is good, they do sound like they accept responsibility and I hope they continue to follow up with the hotel and Gaylord community in good faith. Throwing them money by itself does not fix the problem, though it certainly helps.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
My concern is not just that the GPA/philanthropy stuff was irrelevant, but rather that the fraternity believes it's very, very relevant. It's a reminder that we tend to rate the seriousness of an offense not by actual behavior but by demographic background.
What's that, you have a 3.74 GPA? Well then, I guess these were just hijinks after all; thanks for the clarifying information.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
Given how much crap Mr. Greenebrg wrote about Founders Cup (which, BTW, nobody outside of Greeks give a flying fuck about), philanthropy, GPA, -- hell, he should have included how much the perpetrators phone home every weekend to talk to their mothers; because they are just really, really, great guys -- I don't see a lot of acceptance in this letter.
Sorry. You just don't put all that other shit in there. You stay on topic.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
They said 115 Sammies were on the trip; how many were directly involved? What I haven't seen from them is any distancing between the perpetrators, particularly the ringleaders, and the chapter. I can only assume that a majority of the 115 members of the chapter (that is a big number for a Michigan fraternity chapter) who were there participated or did not try to stop it.
I'm sure plenty of people automatically associate the chapter, the fraternity at large, and fraternities in general with this kind of behavior, but I have seen nobody accepting of the behavior beyond the chapter level. If they don't remove the worst offenders then it's perfectly fair to say this action was characteristic of a chapter that doesn't belong on UM's campus.
January 28th, 2015 at 11:02 AM ^
I agree completely, and that is why I have been more than willing to weigh in here as a former SAM, and been willing to post emails I receive like this (though who knows if they'll keep sending them to me if they get word I posted this). The UM chapter needs to publicly boot out the members responsible for the damages, and I am disappointed that they have still not stated just how many were involved in the mayhem. Also, the fact that the other members didn't do anything to stop it also disappoints me. This means to me either one of two things: 1) the # of brothers doing the damages outnumbered the # of brothers not doing the damage, leading those not involved to be afraid to say anything, or 2) the brothers doing the damages were high-ranking members of the fraternity with seniority. If it was freshmen or sophomores, then the juniors and seniors in authority should have been able to put a stop to it if they had any leadership at all. That is why I am so disgusted with the chapter and am willing to publicly state so as a SAM alum from UM.
January 28th, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^
I feel for you Mike. My house (Sigma Chi) got put on probation twice and then ultimately booted off campus for quite a while. It's taken us quite a while to get things back to "normal" and even now a lot of alums (like me) dont go by the house anymore or do the pre-game like we used to - simply because we developed other habits and rituals while they were gone.
My house didnt do one awful thing (like this) but rather a string of alchohol-related offenses and general stupid vandalism and other nonsense that just never stopped. And when the idiot started shooting out windows in West Quad with a BB gun that was game, set, match.
Hopefully for your house's sake they quickly dismiss the bad apples, make full restitution and take whatever university/national punishment awaits them. But I have to say based on your President's email at least it sounds more like a Penn State fan defending Saint Joe than somebody who understands the size of the shit sandwhich they just took a big bite of.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^
I made the same Penn State comparison last week in one of @sierragold's threads. People are really deluded into an us versus them mentality instead of being accountable.
PR 101... accept it. The more you push back, the longer the scandal lasts.
January 28th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
Not that I disagree with you, but...in a similar (though much, much smaller scale) incident when I was in a fraternity, two brothers had done some property damage to another fraternity. It was a big deal, the cops got involved, as did the Interfraternity Council. There was a ton of pressure on us to expel from the fraternity the two brothers who had allegedly committed the property damage. However, if we did that, it would make it obvious who the perpetrators were. As such, we voted not to expel them and instead "closed ranks." As a result, nothing came of it.
I'm sure I'll get pilloried for this, but, well, I think we did the right thing. The other fraternity blew everything way out of proportion to say the least; I don't want to share more details, but let's say lighting a mattress on fire and putting it on someone's lawn is not, in fact, much of a crime and certainly not one that would merit the type of police attention that, say, massive property destruction or some sort of assault/battery would normally receive. The end result: since we didn't hand over indirect evidence of who committed the act, and since we closed ranks, there was a dearth of evidence and the matter was dropped. Which it should've been in the first place; was a completely ridiculous thing to make a brouhaha over by the other fraternity (which makes the situation different than what happened with SAM, obviously).
January 28th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
If someone burned a matrress on my front lawn I would not be amused.
Damage to the lawn. Disruption of firetrucks through my neighborhood (assumimg they were xalled) plus cost to the taxpayers. Risk of sparks being carried by wind damaging my house or neighbors. The dirty work left to me to dispose of it safely once it cooled. The unsightliness of a burned mattress there while waiting for cooling/garbage day.
I don't get how that's a small thing, really. I understand that college students may care less about appearance than I would, but that doesn't reduce it to a small harmless prank, IMO.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^
Here's the truth: the east coast brats that dominate some of these houses (especially sammys) are rarely excited to come to U. Michigan. Most of them are bitter they got rejected by NYU Stern, Duke, Northwestern, GTown or an Ivy...especially Cornell and UPenn.
They're rich, they openly despise Michigan resident students, they rarely hang out with non-East coast kids, they use a lot of drugs, they're obnoxious twits. Someone said they noticed an uptick in cocaine use in the 90s, safe to infer that coincides with a dramatic uptick in these NYC and DC area non-resident students getting admitted.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
I had the same sentiment when I encounted many East Coast kids back in the early 90's. It was like they all wanted to be a James Spader character. But that was back in the 90s. I can only think it has gotten worse with the self entitlement that has taken over kids these days. And funny you should use a picture of John Leibowitz, the epitome of the smarmy NY type.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
Perhaps... but sometimes stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason?!
January 28th, 2015 at 1:38 PM ^
A common saying amongst students: There are two types of UM students; kids who dreamed their entire life of getting into Michigan (i.e. residents) and kids who dreamed of going to an Ivy but had to settle for Michigan (i.e. obnoxious east coast kids, who were waitlisted at UPenn, or whatever)
January 28th, 2015 at 7:59 PM ^
How bizarre to hear this. I was out of state, as were almost all of my housemates. A few of us transferred in and were so happy to be there. I didn't know one person who felt that way; Michigan was the destination school.
January 29th, 2015 at 4:52 PM ^
When I was a student (1993-1998) I consistently heard New York and New Jersey'ites complaining about Michigan while students.
The weather sucks. You can't get a good bagel in Ann Arbor. There isn't enough culture. etc., etc.
A pretty continuous refrain about how Michigan sucked compared to where they were from - to the extent that it was a common joke among folks from Michigan.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^
(A decade ago, I graduated in Dec 2003), SAM was actually mostly midwest guys. The largest population was from Chicago, followed by Detroit, and then NY/NJ. The East Coast bro guys went into Zeta Beta Tau instead of SAM. But I have heard from friends and fellow alums that have encountered the current crop of SAMs at homecomings and such that they are Jersey Shore douchebros. I wouldn't have joined SAM with its current membership today.
January 28th, 2015 at 7:57 PM ^
Back in 1987, it was mostly midwestern guys, too. The ZBT's were the east coast guys but back then it was Long Island (The 'G'island, as it was called). I went to one party with a date and it was pretty standard fraternity stuff. And not everyone was from privilege.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
Stupid Ass Motherfuckers? Just curious.
Interesting that no matter what good this Frat has done in the past, it is now erased by this one weekend of debauchery. But then again, it shows who they really are.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
What a crock... what is so fucking hard for people to understand about being accountable? The second sentence "most of it, but not all of it, is true." That shows little contrition right off the bat... and sets the tone for being defense rather than sincerely saying, hey, we screwed up, let's make it right.
Nice way to wag the dog at the end -- let me show you our trophy case and how much money we raise. Fuck the damage we did to the university, we're good people.
And another thing Mr Greenberg, this was picked up on the nightly news last week. I live in Colorado. Your party was EPIC, I hope it was worth it brah!
January 28th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^
Mike, I was a member of the Sigma Iota chapter from '67-71 (Incidentally, one of the guys in my pledge class was Don Cohodes, maybe you're related?).
What happened recently was on another level from the obnoxious/semi-humorous monkey business we and other fraternities were notorious for back in the day.
The chapter should be at least suspended for a period of time.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^
but I don't recall ever meeting a Don Cohodes. My dad would've been involved in SAM at that time frame, but he didn't go to UM, he went to UI-Chicago. But I agree with you this current crop of SAMs should be suspended for a time, and their antics were way worse than anything you or I did as SAMs.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^
We're all overlooking the boost this might get us in Playboy's annual Party School ranking.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:25 PM ^
Paying for damages and community service seem like a fair punishment.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:25 PM ^
Paying for damages and community service seem like a fair punishment.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:25 PM ^
Paying for damages and community service seem like a fair punishment.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
It's always nice to hear the facts. While some of the stereotyping here is wrong, it's hard not to imagine these students as being "entitled".
The fact that a chapter advisor and Prior are doing the right things now after this became a PR clusterfu#K , and not earlier by the SAM President (whose initial e-mail struck many of us as insincere) doesn't look good to a neutral observer.
January 28th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
"Scandal" is an odd way of putting it. They destroyed tens of thousands of dollars worth of property.