A fraternity at the University of Oregon was suspended for allegedly throwing a wild party at California's Lake Shasta and trashing the campgrounds on Slaughterhouse Island.
Images shared across social media showed garbage, coolers of food, abandoned tents and other objects; some items bore the University of Oregon logo and others featured Greek fraternity letters.
It was not clear if other schools participated in the party or if the bash was limited to students from the University of Oregon. On Monday, the school issued a statement calling the incident "disgraceful" and saying it did not sponsor the event.
One clue may be a cooler that featured the phrase, “DO YOU WANNA DO SOME BLOW MAN?” and included the lettering of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. The university said the fraternity's national organization had "taken the commendable step of suspending all of its UO chapter’s activities until the situation is addressed." The chapter also apologized on Facebook.
On Wednesday, the school suspended Lambda Chi Alpha.
"The university is actively investigating the situation and will take action as appropriate," Robin Holmes, vice president of student life, said. "We are working with authorities to learn all we can and determine who is responsible."
The Shasta Lake Business Owners Association said on its Facebook page that most of the trash was removed, but that the effort would cost taxpayers about $10,000. The university's inter-fraternity council told CBS station KVAL that it was considering sending a cleanup crew as well as donating and fundraising.
The lake has long had a thriving party scene. As many as 1,000 college students have been known to hang out there on rented houseboats at the same time, according to The Oregonian.
"What was different about this [party] is they left behind an incredible amount of trash," Phyllis Swanson, a spokeswoman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, told the newspaper.
Sgt. Rob Sandbloom, of the Shasta County Sheriff's Department boating unit, told Willamette Week it was a "typical weekend" on the lake and some citations were issued, but no arrested were made.
Asked why students would leave so much garbage behind, Sandbloom told the paper, "My personal guess is they have no respect for mankind, but professionally, I don't know."
UPDATE: 6:00 -- This article has been updated to reflect the fraternity chapter being suspended.
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