University Of Oregon Apologizes For Herd Of Bros Who Clogged A Lake With An "Incredible Amount Of Trash"

Summer’s just about here, my friends, which means it’s time to drain some brews, grill some hot dogs, and leave an “incredible amount of trash” at lakeside campsites across this great nation. Apparently, some University of Oregon bros hit for that particular cycle this last weekend, and trashed the everliving shit out of Lake Shasta, a reservoir down in California.

According to a park ranger, hundreds of college students went camping on Slaughterhouse Island, a small island in the lake without garbage facilities or bathrooms, and instead of packing all their shit out, they just left it there. This includes some 90 tents, and a bunch of Oregon gear.

Crews discovered about 90 tents, some of them brand new, sleeping bags, ice chests filled with food and alcohol, personal items and a lot of trash along the lake’s edge. The island doesn’t have a restroom or garbage area — lake users typically carry their belongings in — then out of the area.

As the photos show, there’s a variety of UO stuff and a cooler with a rather rhetorical “DO YOU WANNA DO SOME BLOW MAN?” inquiry on it. Officials have noted that garbage dumps after college trips are typical, but not to this degree. This particular houseboating trip (obviously) wasn’t officially sanctioned by the school, but Oregon VP of student life Robin Holmes said that the national office of one fraternity was suspending all of its activities “until the situation is addressed.”

Trips to this area have become an annual event for fraternities and sororities all along the West Coast. It is one the University of Oregon does not sponsor or condone in any way.

The university is actively investigating the situation and will take action as appropriate. We are working with authorities to learn all we can and determine who is responsible.

One fraternity national organization, Zeta Omicron Zeta, has taken the commendable step of suspending all of its chapters’ activities until the situation is addressed. We hope other national organizations will follow their lead.

Park rangers now have to clean everything up right before Memorial Day weekend. A sheriff’s sergeant put it bluntly:

When asked why they might have just abandoned so much personal property, Sandbloom says, “My personal guess is they have no respect for mankind, but professionally, I don’t know.”

Got ‘em. At least the Forest Service is up a buttload of tents now.

h/t Adam