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Columbia Restaurant Complains About UF Sorority
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Published: October 24, 2007
TAMPA - A manager of the Columbia restaurant in Ybor City complained to the University of Florida that one of its sororities drunkenly caused trouble, damage and fights during a social held there nearly two weeks ago.
Most of the 250 members of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, along with their dates, "arrived in an intoxicated state" and "turned our 102-year-old fine-dining restaurant into a frat house," catering manager Caroline O'Connor wrote to UF President Bernie Machen in letter last Friday.
The restaurant had to call police to break up fights between guests, "something we have never had happen," O'Connor wrote. Members of the visiting group broke toilets and restroom baby-changing tables and also vomited in "various parts of the restaurant," she wrote. Some of the guests stole a bottle of liquor from the restaurant bar before employees grabbed it back.
The restaurant's management asked the group to leave.
"We cannot tolerate that type of behavior," O'Connor wrote.
Steve Orlando, a UF spokesman, said the university's Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs is investigating the complaint, and the sorority could face sanctions.
The university has apologized to the restaurant, Orlando said.
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.
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