The Greek Life olympics were cut short by a student committee this weekend amid concerns about drunken and aggressive behavior.

The olympics started at 1 p.m. Sunday and were scheduled to run for two hours. But at 2:15 p.m., some students became rowdy, and the Greek Week Committee decided to call off the remaining events. The Tau Kappa Epsilon and Phi Kappa Tau fraternities were removed from participation in the rest of Greek Week, said Corey Bailey, an adviser in the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Bailey said there were “a number of individuals [at the olympics] who were drunk to the point where they couldn’t really function.”

There were also instances of “disrespect” toward university staff, including foul language and a failure to follow instructions. When given instructions designed to ensure their safety, some students aggressively refused to follow guidelines, Bailey said.

The rest of Greek Week is scheduled to go on as planned, but there will be continuing conversations about the disruptions at the olympics, students and officials said. The first took place last night and included the presidents of all four Greek governing councils: the Panhellenic Association, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council and the United Greek Council.

Bailey said he didn’t know how many students were causing problems, but Student Government Association Greek Legislator Gabi Band said there were no serious fights and that troublemakers constituted a relatively small number of attendees.

“A few individuals were arguing with the referees; people weren’t paying attention to the events and to what was going on,” said Band, who attended the event. “People were roughhousing and wrestling.”

Greek student leaders and university staff members stressed that the decision to cancel the event was ultimately made by the students on the Greek Week Committee, not university staff.

“I think it’s a good example of the Greek Community holding each other accountable,” Pan-Hellenic Association president Mallory Maher said. “That is why the olympics were ultimately canceled. … I wasn’t involved in the decision but I do support it 100 percent.”

Greek Week is traditionally designed to strengthen the Greek Community and create unity, IFC president Sean McGinnis said.

“For Greek Week, it’s really to get everybody together,” he said. “Some people have never met someone from another chapter.”

The olympics were scheduled to include a number of events, including a tug-of-war, a water balloon toss and a relay race, according to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Web site.

“It is a shame when you’ve got a week when people can show off the best of the Greek community, to have something like this mar the week, and I hope and the rest of the week goes better,” said Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs James Osteen, who helps oversee the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

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