University of Michigan Fraternities Vandalize Two Northern Michigan Resorts

6499404_G.jpg Credit: Seth Koronka and Trevor Smith

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Two ski resorts trashed. They say 3 University of Michigan fraternities are to blame.

Now the the resorts are looking at days of clean up, and thousands of dollars in repairs.

Treetops in Gaylord says members of the University of Michigan’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity did as much as $50,000 in damage over the weekend.

And thousands more in damage at Boyne Highlands Resort, where two other University of Michigan fraternities were staying.

“We had a group of a fraternity that was visiting and had an excessive party and did damage on the resort. Food, beer, alcohol, the walls, carpet damage, ceiling broken down and furniture damage,” said Barry Owens, General Manager of Treetops.

Crews are still cleaning up a path of destruction left at Treetops Resorts from the Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity.

They say police had to escort the students out after they wreaked havoc in these rooms and hallways.

Like here, the ceiling tiles were ripped down and destroyed.

“They had a series of rooms, a couple floors of rooms, obviously things got out of hand. We estimate the cleanup and damage is around $50,000,” said Owens.

And Boyne Highlands saw damage from two more University of Michigan fraternities in up to 12 separate private condos throughout the resort.

“We’re the stewards of the property and it’s disturbing to us and we need to protect their investments. We are following up with U of M and they promised us swift action. We assessed a significant fee when they checked out not knowing what’s in repair but we wanted to protect our owners and ourselves,” said Mike Chumbler, General Manager of Boyne Highlands.

We reached out to the university and the Office of Public Affairs & Internal Communications at the University of Michigan provided us with this statement:

“We are very disappointed in the behavior of some of our students during a weekend visit to two northern Michigan ski resorts.

I want to assure you that the organizations and the individuals involved will be held accountable for their actions.

While we are still gathering information, we understand that the damage at Treetops Resort and Boyne Highlands is expected to total in the thousands of dollars.

U-M staff members in the Office of Greek Life have begun meeting with the presidents of the fraternities and sororities involved.

We expect full payment for all damages.

The local Greek chapters are in the process of notifying their national organizations, which could bring their own sanctions.

We are confident the national organizations will take this seriously and will work through this situation in collaboration with the university.

Additionally, these incidents will be addressed through the Greek Life student judiciary process on our campus.”