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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1of12MattDamons

January 22nd, 2015 at 10:26 PM ^

 

Joined: 12/16/2013

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Blerg

January 23rd, 2015 at 9:19 AM ^

It isn't though man... my parents in Indianapolis texted me about it.  My highschool friends, Greeks, at other schools mentioned it to me.  My cousins in Massachusetts said something about.  All because I was Greek during my time at UM.  What happened at Tree Tops is inexcusable.

Joined: 07/28/2010

MGoPoints: 10658

bouje2

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:09 PM ^

Fraternities do a lot of good and aren't all bad but just because you raise some money doesn't give you the right to trash a place.

I don't see why these children feel like they have the entitlement to do this.

Kids these days need to grow up.

Joined: 11/28/2013

MGoPoints: 174

Zoltanrules

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^

The Detroit News says the GM of Treetops does not think the SAM apology from its President was sincere since he was one of the main trouble makers!

Since this happened at two resorts and has escalated every year , I find it hard to believe this is an isolated incident by a very few bad apples.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21235

Zoltanrules

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:07 AM ^

If they represented a workplace they could be terminated in addition to legal consequences including jail time. What point are you making? This isn't newsworthy at Michigan? This isn't a big deal and they should just pay the damages? If the SAMs had destroyed their own house it wouldn't be a story.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21235

ironman4579

January 23rd, 2015 at 1:16 AM ^

And if that bachelor party was affiliated with an institution or company in some way, you can bet there would be repercussions. I don't think there's ever been a bachelor party affiliated with the university ( unless Dave Brandon set up something I missed. "Bachelors at the Big House!! Strippers and blow at the 50 yard line!! Thai lady - boys at the concessions!! Seat cushions and water extra.")

Joined: 11/08/2009

MGoPoints: 3870

Zoltanrules

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^

Seriously, if any U of M group did this it would be newsworthy especially for alums and people who live in A2. Don't you get you supposedly represent the leaders and best. And yes this applies to all our beloved athletes.
Please save me the we all got drunk and ( insert stupid action). This is on a much different and obnoxious level if you read the accounts.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21235

CoverZero

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:52 PM ^

Years ago my fraternity had our formal at Treetops.  It was a great weekend, and non of us did anything wrong. Times have changed...

These asssholes frat thugs should be arrested and prosecuted.  There are more than the vandalism costs here...there are costs of rooms that can not be rented...this will run in to the hundreds of thousands of $$ before it is over, and hopefully will revoke those frat charters responsible.

Joined: 08/30/2014

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Zoltanrules

January 22nd, 2015 at 11:59 PM ^

Forgetting the morals and ethics, which apparently is lost on some, malicious destruction of a building over $20,000 is a felony that carries a penalty of 10 years and/or a $15,000 fine, or three times the amount of destruction or injury, whichever is greater.
I'm sure these kids will have good legal representation, they may seriously need it.

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21235

Don

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:16 AM ^

No top-level educational institution that takes its reputation very seriously wants to see its name end up in the NYT for this kind of stuff, especially when it's embarking on a multi-year, multi-billion dollar capital campaign. Add to this a new university President who has made no secret of his desire to improve the academic standing of the institution, and there's no chance that the U-M administration and Regents are just going to take a "frat boys will be frat boys" stance.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148381

BluePony

January 23rd, 2015 at 1:04 AM ^

...that Sammy was able to do $50k worth of damages. That sort of destruction takes some serious skill. But from what I've heard, Pike and Chi Psi were unfairly lumped in with Sammy's destruction. It looks like another poster in this thread has heard the same. 

 

At any rate, a lot of the old folks in this thread need to get on off their moral high horses. Whether or not you want to believe it, pointless destruction is a relatively common element among all Michigan fraternities. Was this destruction justified in any way whatsoever? Absolutely not. Should some members of the fraternity be held accountable for their actions? Sure. Is this story being overblown? Abso-fucking-lutely. 

Joined: 03/11/2014

MGoPoints: 1

HateSparty

January 23rd, 2015 at 5:57 AM ^

With all the respect due to you, you're an idiot. Overblown is held for insignificant occurrences made into "The Blizzard of 2013" kind of stuff. Overblown is when hyperbole is the norm. This was an immature, disrespectful and ignorant series of behaviors. For alums to have their university shed in this kind of light, overblown does not qualify. And to be impressed reflects quite a bit upon you and your character. Embarrassed would be the correct response, young man.



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ats

January 23rd, 2015 at 7:05 AM ^

If pointless destruction is now a relatively common element among all Michigan fraternities then they either need to fix it or have it fixed for them. 

When I was at UofM, pretty much any frat party had a couple frat members who were sober and responsible for kicking out anyone (including members) who were causing problems. 

And this story isn't being overblown.  You had multiple Greek organizations that implicitly represent Michigan completely and publicly tarnishing that reputation.  There seems to be a rather large number of both Alumni and none Alumni who are justifiably outraged by the actions that took place.  Each post here has had several hundred posters, the Reddit thread has had over 6k comments.  This is getting national media exposure. 

If a fraternity wants to trash their own house, I don't think anyone would care.  But that's not what they did.  Nor do I think Sammy would take kindly if people showed up at their house and totally trashed everything.

Joined: 09/20/2009

MGoPoints: 781

double blue

January 23rd, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^

"pointless destruction is relatively common element"...you are either in a piss ass fraternity yourself or trolling to make people even more against fraternities. i was president of my fraternity and president of ifc. this is not a common element and anyone who would accept as is is a complete tool. it is just flat out wrong. they should be held fully responsible. i said on another thread that time in a lock-up would not be a bad idea- seriously.



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NRK

January 23rd, 2015 at 1:07 AM ^

This stuff was pretty bad, and represents UM poorly. It makes me ashamed to be a fraternity alum or a UM alum. But at the same time, a significant portion of the posters throwing down stereotypes and vitriol at a large group of people based on a loose association (Greek life). By all means, this topic is relevant enough to post about, and be outraged if you want. I have zero issue with any of that. I disliked destruction of property that occurred when I was in college and never understood that mentality. But can we stop with the stereotypes and blanket statements about entire groups of people based on a single characteristic? It's getting unreadable and reflects on mgobloggers poorly.

Joined: 02/20/2009

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kehnonymous

January 23rd, 2015 at 2:16 AM ^

^^^^^  Basically, all this.

I'm not a frat person myself but it's still pretty shitty for people to be throwing out blanket stereotypes of fraternity members.  There are certainly valid critiques you can make about the Greek system and this incident is certainly grist for that mill, but it's still nonetheless pretty wrongheaded to flatly cast aspersions at anyone just because he is in a frat.

Joined: 11/25/2011

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NRK

January 23rd, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^

And I hope that fraternity alum acknowledge those critiques. Generally speaking, having a large number of people together can lead to group/defensive mentalities. Add in youth, alcohol, drugs, hormones, etc., and you have a lot of the elements necesssary for issues to come up.

Because fraternities in general tend to encourage group-mentality and usually have a large number of people associated with that group (as opposed to a regular group of 5-8 friends living together) they are probably involved in more issues.

I don't think fraternities themselves are the problem, but I think the group-mentality fosters an atmosphere that leads to problems, and fraternities can strengthen that group mentality.

Joined: 02/20/2009

MGoPoints: 6411

Don

January 23rd, 2015 at 1:48 AM ^

Then I suggest that you send the "old folks" actually running this university—who have already suspended one greek and are threatening to suspend several more—an angry email telling them to get off their "moral high horse." I'm sure President Schlissel will give you a sympathetic hearing.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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sierragold

January 23rd, 2015 at 6:54 AM ^

That everyone is down on Fraternities' in general. It would have been the same response or worse if this would have been the rowing team, tennis team, basketball team, and god forbid the football team. If anyone else had done this it would have been for lack of a better word just as deplorable and a possible a worse reaction.

The damage that was done just happened to be by several Fraternities' leaves and leaves no reasoning (drunk is no reason and neither is young and stupid) as to why students of such a fine University as Michigan would show this great lack of respect to personal property, rudeness to other guests at the resorts and the destruction of the personal property. I don't blame the Fraternity for the destruction, blame falls with the students of the Fraternity.

Seriously, if this was on a students record of behavior prior to being a student at the University of Michigan, they would have never be accepted into the University. They only have themselves to blame for whatever punishment is handed down and I personally feel they should all be dealt punishment accordingly.

 

 

 

Joined: 10/03/2009

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mich12fan

January 23rd, 2015 at 8:33 AM ^

I wanted to add a ski trip experience of my own just for perspective. My senior year, my fraternity did our annual ski trip up to the Petoskey area (I'm not a Pike or Chi Psi) and I just so happened to be risk manager that semester. Myself and the ski trip organizer sat down with our executive board and designated a responsible person for each house that we had rented out. This person was in charge of drunk-proofing the house and making sure it was clean and that everyone left by the check-out time. When I got to the house I was in charge of, I took everyone's car keys (even from the stubborn rich kid with an Audi) and hid them so no one could do anything stupid. The worst that happened that weekend was a car accident that was no fault of anyone because the roads were pure ice.

Joined: 07/04/2009

MGoPoints: 708

Wolverine In Iowa

January 23rd, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^

Exactly how events like this should be handled.  Our house had some what I would call "old souls" who were constantly policing the parties we had in order to prevent any BS like destruction or drunken/drug-induced idiocy from occurring.  Now these guys were probably higher than kites, I must admit, but they were respected for what they did.  The best was at our chapter meetings when one or two of them would give an "incident report" from the festivities the last week - it was always hilarious, but there certainly was some public shaming going on that showed how serious the risk management aspect of running a fraternity was.

When one member had to tell everyone that he was going to be going through a background check for employment with the feds, the risk management guys basically turned into the Gestapo, making sure that no "criminal" evidence of our shenanigans was visible in the house (well, in the common areas).  The guy got the job.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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MikeCohodes

January 23rd, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^

I weighed in on this in the original thread when this was first reported, expressing my disappointment in these idiots, and I would like to add more to the discussion now that there are more details out. Here are my thoughts:

1) Now that I know more the extent of the damage (45 rooms damaged, wow!) I am even more disappointed in my former brothers than I was before. They have to pay fully for repairs, out of their own pockets. National SAM should not bail them out here. If either the chapter or national asks me for money as an alum they can take a hike.

2) UM is absolutely right to suspend the frat, and should do so with the other organizations that damaged the other hotel.

3) I am disappointed in the statement released by the chapter president, who stated that the actions were of "a few members" - direct quote. I call bullshit. A few members should not have been allowed to commit that level of damage on that many rooms without the leadership stepping in to stop it. It was clearly way more than just a few members. Unless he has a different definition of "a few" than I do. This is clearly a failure of leadership on his part for not reigning them in, and he should resign as chapter president.

4) If it was truly just a few members, then those members should be kicked out of the frat. If it was pledges that haven't been inducted yet, then they should be immediately barred from any further SAM activity and stripped of their pledge status.

These morons have acted in a way that made both SAM and UM look very poorly, and I will forever be disappointed in these idiots. I am ashamed to be a SAM alum today.

Joined: 08/28/2012

MGoPoints: 4805

west2

January 23rd, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^

as the national news wires-GMA, NBC have picked up the story and not just as a banner but a full blown 3-4 minute interest story.  And yeah its a black eye to the university.  The greek students that are responsible are in deep trouble as I am thinkin that there will be student suspensions, hefty fines to the Frats, commnunity service and possible criminal charges due to the high dollar amounts. Partying making a mess is one thing but the photos of the damage are unexplainable.  What the heck were they doing?

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