“The kids got pretty out of control on the bus,” said Mike McKinney, office manager of A Savannah Nite Limousine Service. “They were just very rude to the driver, poking him in the back of the head and calling him a (expletive).”
He said the students also vomited on the bus, left alcohol – which, according to the contract, was not permitted in the vehicle – and poured drinks on the seats, causing $400 in damage, which has not been paid to the company.
McKinney said he responded to the scene when the sorority members and their dates would not leave the bus after the driver refused to take them any further because it was unsafe for him to drive.
“The kids then threatened to sue us because we left them in the bad part of town,” McKinney said. “There was nothing we could (do) at that point because it was unsafe.
“I couldn’t believe it, especially from Miami University students,” he said.
Two other sororities at Miami are currently suspended for unruly behavior at their spring formals. Pi Beta Phi and Alpha Xi Delta were suspended for one and two years, respectively, for underage drinking, vomiting, littering and damaging a Butler County lodge and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
Zeta Tau Alpha had disciplinary hearings at Miami on May 20 and May 27. It has entered a plea of not responsible for violating the student code of conduct on physical and/or mental abuse or harm, damage to property, prohibited use of alcohol and disorderly conduct.
But the organization was found responsible for violating two sections of the code and was placed on probation from May 27, 2010 to May 30, 2012.
During the first year of probation, the sorority can hold no social events with alcohol or hold an off-campus formal. In the second year, the chapter may resume social events with alcohol and its formal may be held off campus.
It must also present a plan to Miami and conduct an alcohol education program for all members.