A UF investigation confirmed that members of its Zeta Beta Tau fraternity chapter acted inappropriately while staying at a Panama City Beach resort for their three-day Spring formal.
However, it did not show that the misbehavior was purposely targeted at veterans, who were also staying at the same resort.
The school completed its investigation June 5 and released a 132-page report late last week that included the following:
- Emails to and from UF officials, ZBT representatives, Warrior Beach Retreat founder Linda Cope and the Laketown Wharf Retreat.
- Notes from the UF ZBT chapter’s internal investigation.
- Interviews with more than 60 students, including students in the ZBT fraternity as well as their dates for the Spring formal.
- Interviews with 10 witnesses affiliated with the Warrior Beach Retreat.
- The 22-page Panama City Beach Police Department investigation report, which was released June 2 and said no criminal charges would be filed because the department was unable to establish probable cause or positively identify suspects.
Following the investigation, UF charged the chapter with three student conduct code violations: causing physical harm to any person, obscenity and public intoxication.
Early reports of the incident said students from UF’s and Emory University’s chapters of ZBT removed or stole
American flags, obstructed access to elevators and urinated and threw objects off balconies, among other things. Several of the rooms occupied by UF ZBT members also received noise complaints during their stay, according to the report.
Both the UF-conducted interviews and the ZBT chapter’s internal investigation revealed that one student, while intoxicated, took an American flag that was staked to the ground and waved it around but returned it after a group of veterans approached him. Another student interviewed in the investigation said he vomited on his balcony the first night he was at the resort but added none went off the balcony. A third said he went to the balcony of his room to open a bottle of champagne to make mimosas and some of it might have poured out. The interviews also showed the majority of the students did not know the veterans group was also staying at the resort.
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email that the fraternity is currently going through a conduct process, which will determine what happens to the organization. She added there will be a hearing between the fraternity chapter and UF regarding the conduct violations, but a date has not been scheduled.
ZBT has already been on probation twice, Sikes said, and would probably be suspended if the chapter is found responsible for the charges UF has levied against it. However, if the chapter is found not responsible for the charges, Sikes said it will be eligible to reopen from UF’s side of the situation.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 6/16/15]
