OT Update: Fraternity SAM suspended by UofM

Submitted by StephenRKass on

Many of you have been following the story about the vandalism caused by Sigma Alpha Mu at Tree Tops Resort in Northern Michigan. The News (and Freep, for that matter) are reporting that UofM has suspended the fraternity in light of last weekend's actions.

LINK:  http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/01/22/university-michigan-fraternity-members-accused-resort-vandalism/22176615/

In addition, up to five other Greek organizations at UofM may possibly also be suspended. This story has legs, and I'm sure there is more to come.

Besides Sigma Alpha Mu, UM officials said Sigma Delta Tau sorority was involved in the vandalism that occurred at Treetops Resort in Gaylord the weekend of Jan. 16-17.

That same weekend, Pi Kappa Alpha and Chi Psi fraternities along with Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma sororities were involved in reported vandalism at Boyne Highlands, 50 miles northwest in Harbor Springs, UM officials said. The damage involved 12 rooms.

UM officials want all of those groups to be suspended as well, university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.

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mgoblue0970

January 23rd, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

WHAT THE FUCK IS NORMAL DAMAGES? Seriously. Please tell us. I'm racking my brain trying to derive a single cogent ounce of thought from your post... In the 18 month period ending in September of 2014, I traveled over 120,00 miles, I have elite status at more hotel chains than I care to count -- I won't be paying for any vacations with all the travel points I accumulated during that time... So, in ALL of the MANY places I stayed around the world, not once, did I ever "normally damage" a property. Here's the really odd thing which very well may blow you away... I didn't even have to try. It took no extra effort on my part to respect other people's property. I didn't have to go out of my way to NOT fuck something up. I didn't need to have a "responsible" member of the frat on call to make sure something didn't get damaged either. Even normally damaged. You want to know what's really frustrating? Not that this is overblown. It's little turds like you who have no fucking idea what things like integrity, leadership, honesty, character, accountability, or respect means! Moreover, I'm willing to bet at least a subset of that list of words can be found in any given Greek charter!!! Are they just words or should they mean something? This is not overblown you entitled idiot. 50 individuals just took down the thousands of students and alum a notch. Is the segment of your Greek society so fucking insular that the needs of a few outweigh the many? Seriously. Answer all this for the board. For the students and alum in here who do it right. These are not rhetorical questions! In your little douche Greek cocoon, you may think such a perception unfair but when you join the big boy world, you'll realize perception is indeed reality (and that's why people who have their heads in the sand like you or @double blue can go fuck themselves). As I'm sitting here right now, this was one of the lead stories on the nightly news. I live in Colorado. Congrats fratboy douches; your party was EPIC! I hope it was worth it.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 18648

Go Blue Eyes

January 22nd, 2015 at 10:15 PM ^

First thing I checked was to see if my old fraternity was on there - it wasn't.  I see the hotels are doing their best to repair the damage and reopen the areas affected.  I would imagine some parents will be getting extra bills in the near future to cover the cost.  But like some of the posters above said, criminal charges do need to be filed.

Joined: 12/04/2010

MGoPoints: 12683

Zoltanrules

January 22nd, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^

In addition to paying damages, fines or whatever. Actually all kids should do it to see how the less fortunate live and to be thankful for the opportunity to attend and represent the University of Michigan.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21089

EastUGoBlue

January 22nd, 2015 at 10:59 PM ^

Do you live in the real world? "Sins of omission are equally as intolerable as sins of commission." Are you kidding me? Have you ever been in a social situation with more than 10 people in your life? I'm not saying join in, by any means, but personally stopping a brigade of people who have their minds made up? The President of the United States can't do that. I guarantee there were people there who thought you themselves "this is a terrible idea" and they didn't have a prayer of stopping it.

 

Stop living in a fantasy land.

Joined: 05/28/2012

MGoPoints: 159

FormAFarkingWall

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^

If you believe what the poster I'm responding to said, "a couple kids" were perpetrating the crime. Couple is more than one, less than a few, far less than a raging mob. We know there were 120 Greeks present. If I were one of the 118/120 not engaging in criminal vandalism, I sure as shit would step up. Now all of that assumes you believe 50k in damage was the workoof a "couple" kids, which I can't imagine to be the case.

Joined: 01/08/2015

MGoPoints: 2827

EastUGoBlue

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^

OK, so he's incorrect for implying that 2 students averaged $25k in a damage a piece. You're attacking semantics. I don't think anyone believes that 2 people did all of this.

If you and 117 other decided to lock arms and one of you held up the picture from Tiananmen Square then sure, maybe you would have had a shot. You need to put yourself in their position - it's just not realistic to think that you would be the singular hero to step up and save the day. Don't you think that atleast one of the 118 (in your example) people there thought to themselves "this is a terrible idea, we're going to wake up tomorrow and completely regret this"? There's a reason they couldn't stop it - it wasn't reasonable. Don't blame the group for the actions of a select few.

Joined: 05/28/2012

MGoPoints: 159

KBLOW

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:22 AM ^

Jesus, the Greek system is way more pitiful than I ever thought if folks are making lame excuses to not step up and stop a few people causng that much damage.  You sound like a middle schooler.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 22545

WolvinLA2

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:40 PM ^

It's also likely that the "good apples" just weren't around when this was going on. When my fraternity went on trips, it's not like every single thing is done as a group. Hell, 80% of the house might have been skiing or sleeping when this happened.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

StephenRKass

January 23rd, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^

UMichClass2017, do you think that SAM will identify the major culprits? Same thing for Chi Psi and Pike? Presuming these individuals are adults, should they be identified publicly and do the perp walk?

I can believe that the vast majority of fraternity and sorority members who were present at Treetop and Boyne were not actively nor maliciously destroying property. However, if their fraternity brothers and sorority sisters are not willing to identify them, (or better yet, if they are not willing to identify themselves,) then I am less willing to see forgiveness offered to their houses.

If those students responsible are expelled, or removed from school for at least a year or two, and sued for damages trebled, I could see suspensions for the fraternities and sororities being lifted quickly. If, on the other hand, through some perverse sense of "brotherhood" no one takes responsibility, I could see the banhammer coming down on the entire house.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23006

BluePony

January 23rd, 2015 at 9:27 AM ^

It sounds like there will most likely be no actions taken against Chi Psi and Pike. I would not be surprised to see Sammy encourage the main culprits to step forward, though. And I imagine they will have to go through some sort of brotherhood review if they want to preserve any chance at remaining on campus / an active chapter. 

Joined: 03/11/2014

MGoPoints: 1

Wendyk5

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:06 PM ^

One doesn't cancel out the other. You can't say, "Yeah, but we raised a bunch of money for........" I don't want to argue with you; you're 20. I've had too many of those conversations in my own house. And I'm not arguing the value of the Greek system on campus. But what happened is wrong, cannot be defended, and those responsible should be held accountable. 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 67680

Wendyk5

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^

To me, this is less about the Greek system and more about group dynamics. If one or two guys were at that resort, this wouldn't have happened. But when you get a group of people egging each other on and challenging each other to go one further, this can happen. Groups are pretty powerful, especially when they have a singular purpose and are comprised of similar members - there's no one dissenting. There's no one saying, "Hey, think about what you're doing." Groups can be powerful in a good way for the same reason, but when the leader can't lead in the right direction, this kind of shit happens. 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 67680

Zoltanrules

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^

And not just pay fines or cancel some parties. Raising money is nice but these entitled brats need to go up Gaylord sincerely apologize and pick up roadside trash, prepare meals in a homeless shelter, volunteer in hospital or whatever it takes to shape them up. Money is not the answer.

Actually this amount of damage may be a felony so some time in jail may do the trick.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21089

WolvinLA2

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^

OccaM is right. No one is defending what these guys did. The point is, most houses would never do this shit, and many of the houses do a lot more good than bad. We had guys in our house that were dick heads. We also had guys that read to elementary schoolers, raised money for various charities, went on mission trips and like half our house did Dance Marathon every year. I know the bad stuff makes the news, but that's not how the Greek System should be viewed.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

double blue

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

Agreed.  i am very much in favor of the greek system. i believe it provides a significant benefit to those that take advantage of its positive aspects.  it is, however, events like this that give it a bad name.  these students should be treated as harshly as any criminal.  they committed a criminal act and i'm not against actual time in prison- 10 days might be an interesting time for these young people to consider their lunatic behavior.

i really don't get what these kids are thinking.  one of my friends told me his son told him of a group of students who actually went up for a weekend party with building materials in tow , ready to repair the damage they knew would happen.  how do you go along in anyway with that?  we did some stupid things, but we were never destructive and would never have considered something destructive.

Joined: 09/03/2009

MGoPoints: 4332

OccaM

January 22nd, 2015 at 10:31 PM ^

PIKE: Not surprising. 

Chi Psi: Gibbons... now this? 

Sammy: Seriously?!?!? LOL

DG: Too funny

Alpha Phi: Michigan dance team might need some new tryouts. 

Joined: 11/10/2014

MGoPoints: 9158