U of M Fraternities Damage 2 Northern Michigan Resorts $50,000.00 Damages.

Submitted by sierragold on

I was a little shocked and so disappointed when I read this article. This is is not something I would ever expect from the Univeristy of Michigan Student Fraternities and apparently more than one Fraternity was involved with $50,000.00 in damages.

http://www.9and10news.com/story/27896861/university-of-michigan-fraternities-vandalize-two-northern-michigan-resorts

This is something we criticize MSU, OSU for when vadalism occurs after a hugh bowl win. What happened here? U of M has more class than this!

Wow - What is going on here?

I have personally stayed at these resorts had a great time, partied and we have never left damages in our wake of the groups I was with.

This is bad!

Edit: I am more surprised at some of the posts on here thinking that this is not University of Michigan or Mgoblog related. I have seen too many posts of stupid student activities of MSU and OSU starting fires, etc. after winning a bowl game and these same people on here believe that $50K in damages caused by Fraternities of the U of M is not worthy of being on the board and that it does not have an affect on the U of M. Hopefully not a lasting affect, but it does when it is highlighted in the news that these students are from the University of Michigan that caused this kind of damage to the personal property of Resorts in Northern Michigan and if you think that this will not be in the news nationwide you are under estimating social media.

 

 

danimal1968

January 21st, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^

I saw all manner of misbehavior from students, both those in fraternities and those who weren't.  Fraternity stuff can be more destructive just because they tend to gather larger numbers of people together.  Sometimes they may also gather more meatheads together than your typical student gathering.  Certainly not always the case but it was in some cases in my experience.

I'm not sure why you think Michigan would be immune.  Last time I checked they didn't have any morals testing as part of the admissions process - and drunk kids will do some stupid stuff.

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^

How is it embarrassing?  Are you a member of one of the fraternities?  As an alum, I find no embarrassment from this.   It is like being embarrassed because some UM students comit a random crime.  My skin is not thin enough to be embarassed by something as diconnected as this.

 

Why post?  I thought about ignorig it, like most of the pointless threads.  But, the OP wrote the post in such a way as to suggest even he had no idea why he was posting it.

In reply to by PeterKlima

1974

January 21st, 2015 at 8:58 AM ^

I agree with this and your other posts. The OP sounds like a bit of a Boy Scout with the Moral Majority tone of his/her post.

-

OP: You're "disappointed?" Really? Is it your expectation that all 40K UMich students behave themselves at all times? That appears to be the case and it makes you look silly and naive.

-

Were those guys a bunch of idiots? Surely. Does it reflect poorly on the whole university? NFW.

coldnjl

January 21st, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^

This isn't some small level of vandalism like breaking a window or a piece of furniture. 50,000$ is alot of money, and hence alot of damage. You don't need to be a boy scout to see this is way past boys being boys

And your statement on whether it reflects poorly on the university...I believe it does. This is the exact type of behaviour we look down upon when couch burning goes on at other schools. 

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/couch-burnings-reported-tuesday-after-msu-l…

 
Burning a shitty couch you own or taking a golf club to someone else's property...one seems worse, doesn't it?
 

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 11:22 AM ^

1. You have extremely thin skin. 2. An estimate of $50,000 worth of damage is not much. It is the same you might get from a two car accident or a sprinkler system going off in a hotel. 3. This has nothing to do with sports celebrations. All vandalism is not the same. Spraying graffiti on a budding is not the same as breaking windows to celebrate a Pistons victory. Moreover, this wasn't hundreds of various fans taking to the streets to celebrate. This is partying too hard at a hotel by a small group of kids. Ask yourself a question, was there tear gas involved? Riot police? There is no equivalency here.




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coldnjl

January 21st, 2015 at 11:40 AM ^

#1. ad hominem attack...whatever

#2. $50,000 is alot of cash, no matter what you say, especially when you consider the US median income around $52,000.

#3. It is not about sports celebrations...you're right. It is about what actions we consider a poor reflection of a University community. Couch burning and people congregation (think block parties), can cause less monetary damage than $50,000. For example...the riot that occurred after MSU beat OSU in the title game had ~$10,000 dollars of damage http://chapelboro.com/columns/aaron-keck/unc-msu-celebrations-riots-med… -source may be somewhat biased?). Hard to think why you think the damage those idiots caused is less when placed into proper context.

My take away...you are full of shit

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^

50k is a lot compared to median household income? Why not compare it to global household income or to the total number of coffees you can buy? We don't compare it to that because it has nothing to do with that. Just pick a comparison stat that makes it look big, right? What if I compared $50,000 to the amount of money a ski resort makes a season (millions) or the cost of a short hospital stay? What is it compared to the national debt or the spending of the State Michigan?

Compare it to relative amounts of property damage and an estimate ( for insurance purposes most likely) of $50K is not much. It could easily be done by a small group of reckless people.

Oh wait, that is what it is....

As for the comparison to sports riots?, those are laughable because they ares ports watching celebrations that take the form of riots. The idea is ridiculous to other sports fans.

I guess if this was a fraternity forum discussion, we could talk about this incident as being related to other frat celebrations. But, you can't honesl




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03 Blue 07

January 21st, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^

Completely random, but as an attorney who has defended property damage claims..."$50,000 in damage" to the Plaintiffs means (usually) more like $25,000 in actual damage, though you COULD be a moron and pay $50,000 to repair the same damage you could repair for half that, by paying the most expensive contractors you can find, etc. Point being, I don't put a lot of stock- at all- in this $50,000 number unless there are (at least) three repair contractors who submitted bids in that range.

In reply to by PeterKlima

whwright

January 21st, 2015 at 9:54 AM ^

By this logic you have no reason to be interested in the football team either.  Unless, of course, you are currently playing on it. Just some stuff that some guys who go to the University do... 

 

It's inconsistent to be pround of the good things that people at UM do without also being ashamed when they fail. 

jdon

January 21st, 2015 at 8:50 AM ^

for my part, I just came to neg the people who think the actions of a couple frat boys are going to tarnish the image of the majestic wolverine...

I am also here to neg the people who don't like the people who don't care about the article.

love you,

jdon

 

ps. the only reason I don't have like 5000 million points it that negs cost points...

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^

Hardly. I detested fraternities when I was at UM. Not a fan of the concept even. I just think that this is hardly newsworthy. The only discussion it has really started is whether it is newsworthy enough to post here. It's just a dumb topic.




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Michael From TC

January 21st, 2015 at 8:58 AM ^

I used to work at a resort "up north" and just a couple years ago there was another frat group that upon checkin was prodding about liability maximums and such to determine which cards the condos were to be put on.

 

When they left they didnt apologize or make any effort to to even mention what they had left, but there was around a $25,000 bill (rumored down through staff) worth of damages.

 

Ceiling fans ripped out of the sockets, holes in the walls, wood floors destroyed, feces and vomit all over the condo, the plates and glasses were all shattered, the beds were destroyed. The condo had to essentialy be rebuilt. I had photographs at one point and if I find them I will post them here, but I couldnt in the short search I did during this post.  I was embarassed for them but I felt even worse for thier parents.

 

I feel the need to ask who the people are that are raising kids today that actually think things like this are okay to do. It is quite sad actually.

 

03 Blue 07

January 21st, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^

This type of thing-- fraternities damaging hotel rooms-- has been going on since at least the 1980's at Michigan, if not the 1950's; I "know" from witnessing such things firsthand in the 90's and hearing about them happening in the 80's. In other news, rock bands also damage hotel rooms often. Point being, it's not really anything new and doesn't really move the needle at all for me. 

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 9:02 AM ^

Maybe you should try to type it out to see how far afield your thoughts are from a reasonable discussion point.

Are their actions bad?  Yes.

Does this have much to do with the university? No.

Does this have anything to do with "sports win" riots? Nope.

 

So, what is the point?  Do you want to talk about our feelings on fraternities?  Maybe you want to have a discussion of underage drinking that causes property damage?  Maybe you want to talk about secruity at resorts in Michigan?  How about we discuss the quality of craftsmanship of furniture nowadays versus the more solid furnmiture and construction of old?

 

I guess we could ust this as a jumping off point for any inane conversation.  

 

Maybe I'll start a post about an ugly UM sticker I saw on a car and we can discuss it.  The manufacutring of stickers in China vs. American manufacturing?  The diffference with other school stickers? The University supporting carbon monoxide pollution by condoning bumper stickers?

 

The OP just posted this because it mentions UM students.  There is no valid point of discussion.

 

It might as well be a troll post TRYING to make this an issue.

GoWings2008

January 21st, 2015 at 9:04 AM ^

a big response to my minimal amount of snark. 

My advice, go read Brian's explanation of what is acceptable on this blog and what is not. Its under MGoBoard FAQs.

LSAClassOf2000

January 21st, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^

In terms of its topicality, if this is indeed an issue to anyone, it does seem to fall under the general category of "Related to Michigan but not about sports" or however it was phrased, and I think you can make a case for that. Stories like this, even if they paint people who should be representing the University Of Michigan in an unfavorable light, are definitely fair game here. 

PeterKlima

January 21st, 2015 at 12:19 PM ^

Allowed, but not important IMO. It's trying real hard to be important, but it can't overcome that bar too well. It may be newsworthy moth of the Zilwaukee bridge, but it is in "news bits" sections elsewhere.




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