Treetops Resort: Fraternity damage could top $400,000

One day after the University of Michigan sanctioned Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity for wreckage wrought by out-of-control partying at Treetops Resort, the Gaylord resort's general manager said the price tag for the destruction is about $430,000, four times the original estimate.

"If you just look at our out-of-pocket expenses, things we've paid to contractors, third parties, it's around $230,000. It doesn't take into consideration management time or damage to the resort's reputation. Our accountants and attorneys are saying that this could be up to an additional $200,000," Barry Owens, Treetops general manager, said in an e-mail statement Saturday.

"We're now talking a total of $430,000," he said.

Added to that, Owens said he had reason to believe the fraternity might not pay the resort for the destruction.

"It also has become evident that the fraternity representatives have suggested that they are unwilling to pay for the damage that they caused the resort," Owens said in the statement. He could not be reached for further explanation.

Treetops spokeswoman Susan Wilcox Olson said Saturday that Sigma Alpha Mu has paid $25,000 toward restitution but also said a representative has told Treetops that the fraternity is "unwilling to accept liability and pay restitution."

Sigma Alpha Mu Michigan chapter President Joshua Kaplan, a U-M student, could not be reached for comment; U-M students are on spring break.

However, the fraternity's website displays an apology and this statement: "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."

University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Saturday that the university was unaware of Treetops' new cost estimate to repair the damage.

The initial damage repair bill was estimated at about $100,000, as quoted by Owens after the Jan.17-18 weekend rampage. About 120 U-M students, members of Sigma Alpha Mu and women from its sister sorority Sigma Delta Tau, had gathered at the ski resort. There was damage to 45 rooms, and students destroyed ceiling tiles and exit signs, broke furniture and doors and urinated on carpeting, pictures showed.

The Michigan State Police are conducting an investigation. No students have been charged.

Owens also noted that the ski resort is repaired and open for business, but his statement said the costs of damage done by the U-M students "will impact our operation and we're not big enough to shoulder that burden."

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel on Friday barred Sigma Alpha Mu from campus life for at least four years, the most severe sanction that can be implemented against any campus student organization. He also asked the fraternity's national council to revoke its charter.

Schlissel's statement said sanctions against the fraternity include "paying full restitution to Treetops" and "participating in restorative measures in the Gaylord community."

Sorority Sigma Delta Tau was placed on a two-year disciplinary suspension because its members "stood by at Treetops Resort and allowed others to vandalize the facility," according to the U-M sanctions.

In addition to the destruction at Treetops in Gaylord, officials at Boyne Highlands near Harbor Springs said other U-M fraternity and sorority members caused about $30,000 in damage to condo units during a Jan. 17-18 weekend gathering. In that matter, U-M imposed less severe sanctions against Pi Kappa Alpha and Chi Psi fraternities and Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma sororities.