Themed Parties on the Upswing

Theme parties such as Toga, Cocktail, Underwear, etc. are coming back into vogue. These can be fun, but make sure they are politically correct. Remember in the recent past where chapters have been sanctioned and closed for political incorrectness.



Life of the party - The Daily Orange - Pulp

Florida Clean-up - Univ. of Tampa Sig Eps (SEC) to Pitch in

What a way for a colony to start a tradition of service! Congratulations, guys.

2004 Storm Season

A crew of 20 AmeriCorps volunteers flew in Friday from Maryland to help with physical chores.
Ryan Unser patrolled Barefoot Circle on debris detail Tuesday with four fellow AmeriCorps workers. The twentysomethings cleared yards of ripped-up roofing material, mangled aluminum siding and shattered glass -- even climbing trees to clear branches of wreckage.

"Hopefully, we'll be helping put tarps on roofs," Unser said, wearing gloves and a sweaty shirt. "But this is what they want us to do right now."

This weekend, similar labors might be performed by the University of Tampa's Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. The mission was spearheaded by junior Scott Taylor, whose parents, Joe and Sharon Taylor, live in Palm Bay.

After contacting a Barefoot Bay official, he said his frat brothers will perform unknown community service tasks. "She told us we needed hammers and gloves and ourselves. And that's about it," he said.

Sigma Kappa raises $7K for charity

Sigma Kappa sorority "rocked the dock" Friday night with a battle of the bands competition at Cavanaugh's River Deck. All proceeds from the event -- which drew over 800 people and raised $7,000 -- benefited the sorority's main philanthropic cause, Alzheimer's research.



dailypennsylvanian.com - Sigma Kappa raises $7K for charity

Frat Boys, Here's your chance

Does your Frat house have the worst reputation on Campus? Do you get a line of gatecrashers for every party? Is your Rush the most feared, and are most of your members genuinely nuts? MTV UK is bringing Dirty Sanchez to the US for Season 3, and we want your Fraternity to Rush us like no one's been rushed before! Think you've got what it takes to out-party the masters?

MTV.com - Onair - Castingcall

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

If you have been following along at home, you know that we here at "S & P" do not hold the crack team of Web Wookies at HQ in the highest of regard. But to be fair, we should acknowledge when they do something right.

They have FINALLY updated the "News" section with these new items.

• A posting for "Director of Volunteers". Check it out if you are interested. A fully supported position like this could reap great benefits for the Fraternity. (The operative phrase is "fully supported").
• A badly scanned PDF of the "Buy a Tile" brochure.
• A shill for fantasy football. (We hope HQ is getting a cut of the $$$.)
• A Press Release for YouthAids. (Looks a lot like this one, don't you think?)

We even noticed a "Google News" link on the news sidebar. That looks familiar too.

Seriously, The HQ site was getting stale and we are glad to see that there is some new content there to stimulate interest. They really do have good information there if you can find it.

From an undisclosed location, I'm Diogenes and I approved this message.

Alleged sexual assault hangs over U of R

Yeah, Mitch already put this one on SigEp-Talk. This is a link to the online news story.
Alleged sexual assault hangs over U of R

This ain't the Roaming Gnome is it.....

Sig Ep chapter website pix of the week:


Sweet dreams frat boy ......

And yet another alcohol related fraternity house death

The carnage continues. It seems that this is going to be a banner year for alcohol related campus deaths. The research tells us that these occur not just in fraternities, sororities, or other organized groups that have some sort of "joining ceremony" or "rite of passage," but also students who on their own overdo alcohol consumption. Alcohol reduces inhibitions and as such certainly amplifies the feeling of immortality. If you lose control, how can you regain it before you pass the point of no return? With organized groups, sanctioned by the University, the issue is more visible and a more direct connection to an "organized activity" is oftent determined. If the incidents continues at the current rate (what are we up to now, two or three per week) so far this semester, we are going to see fraternity/sorority liability insurance rates go out the roof. And, as Universities are forced by lawsuits to bear some burden of responsibility we are going to see the closing of more and more chapters and even the annihilation of entire Greek systems. If we don't start policing ourselves and walk our talk, then someone else is going to do it for us.

TheHometownChannel.com - News - Police Investigate Fraternity House Death

Charity Begins at the Chapter House

This article from the USC "Daily Trojan" relates the challenges and opportunities of Greeks raing money with philanthropic events.

Greeks look to revamp charity - New Interfraternity and Panhellenic policies hope to change presence of alcohol at philanthropic events.

The competition is heating up. Young women are trying to win the bull-riding competition at whatever cost. Some are stripped down to their bathing suits while others douse them with water and alcohol. Men cheer them on, while other women leave, shocked and disgusted.

This was the scene recounted by several sorority members present at last year's Alpha Tau Omega "Rodeo" - a fundraiser benefiting the Salvation Army.

Critics both inside and outside of the Greek community said that this stark contrast in event type and purpose is one of several deficiencies found in Greek service and philanthropy.

The event was also the catalyst for a series of changes aimed at improving the quality of the philanthropy events and service sponsored by Interfraternity and Panhellenic organizations.

Although Greeks raised a record amount of money and served thousands of hours in the community, some of the organizations' fundraising methods have been called into question, by not only campus Greek officials and beneficiaries, but also Greek students.

Greeks look to revamp charity - Daily Trojan - News

An earlier article from the same paper: "Greeks make impact" - Fraternities and sororities in Greek community continue the long-time tradition of philanthropy.

Frat Boys, Frat Boys - What'cha Gonna Do?

COPS on Campus?

POLICE BLOTTER
Student kicked in head outside frat house

A university student was severely beaten and kicked repeatedly in the head by another student outside of the Sigma Phi Epsilon and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity houses yesterday morning during an argument over a woman.

There is almost always a woman involved. And alcohol.

Check the article for the rest...
DiamondbackOnline.com: POLICE BLOTTER

Homecoming - An Alumni Perspective

This gentleman reminisces about homecoming and what it means to him. Nice article that reflects what many alums feel at Homecoming.

"College students, if you don't know, are divided into the Greeks and the GDIs. But it's the fraternity and sorority students who seem to dominate the scene when it comes to homecoming.

"They are the ones who build most of the floats and hold luncheons for returning alumni and have wild and crazy parties Saturday night. It's a part of the college experience that, frankly, most of the GDIs miss.

"I was a fraternity guy and I still regard myself as in the fraternity - once a Sig Ep, always a Sig Ep. There is a bond between fraternity brothers - and I'm sure with sorority sisters - that lasts a lifetime.

"A few months ago I met up with 11 other of my old fraternity brothers in the Sharon area for a weekend of golf. Two of the guys I hadn't seen for more than 30 years, but the fraternity connection made it seem like only yesterday.

"Is it worth joining a fraternity or sorority? I think so, primarily for the lifelong friendships that are made."

"A Sigma Phi Epsilon for life". It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?

A look back

Who's on first?

We seem to continue to suffer from an "identity crisis." One looks at the National Fraternity Website and if someone does not recognize us as "Sig Ep" they wouldn't know what they were looking at. It is obvious that we want to avoid the "frat boy" stereotype, but we do have very positive traditions (or at least I thought we did) in being a Greek letter organization and having the lofty ideals and symbols that have been with us since 1901. Certainly some things have changed over the past 100+ years, and for the better, but some things have remained constant and we should as proud of them as we are our more progressive programs that set us apart from the rest of the fraternity world.

It seems that we still use some of the operational tactics of the early years. Who has a clue what resolutions are made at conclave and some just come to be as a matter of convenience (and subversion) by the leaders and staff du jour. In the early days, Uncle Billy (W.L. Phillips) used to destroy all the Conclave resolutions and publish them like he wanted. Nobody ever knew the difference because no one else was keeping records. When you, as a delegate, come back from Conclave, are you really sure what happened and what the outcome was... and is there a record of that 3 months down the road???? As a delegate, have you noticed how your committee "mentors" come in with a pre-programmed agenda regarding each issue you are to discuss - and how you are led down a specific path for outcome? Rarely is anything accomplished that hasn't been carefully orchestrated? Have you noticed that with each succeeding conclave, resolutions that increase the power and autonomy of the Board and the HQ staff between legislative sessions increases? Have you noticed that many "interim" decisions made by the Board and HQ staff are never validated by the Grand Chapter?

Where are our records, our history, our archives and why is it virtually impossible to trace any extant resolutions, etc.?????

Which brings me to the first of the issues this author will be exposing periodically now that I have been invited to provide an occasional op-ed to the Sanguine et Purpure. Let's look at one example of a conclave resolution that mysteriously disappeared. That one being "publication" of the list of standing national committees and their constituent membership. A codicil of this was that the National Board Meeting Minutes also be published and distributed. One can get on the "mailing list" for the NBD minutes. They make interesting reading, more from a creative fiction standpoint, but interesting nonetheless. It is quite obvious that they need some degree of sanitization for public consumption, but they way they read, for the most part, nothing goes on but the HQ "dog and pony" show to the board giving the "state of the fraternity" as seen through the eyes of the blind (aka Staff). This seems to me to be a great waste of time and resources if the board is totally dependent on the perceptions of the staff. I am not sure that the feather ever gets weighed against the heart of truth. That too will be a good bedtime story for another day - so come back later for that.

Let me get to today's point du jour - the national committees. Well, after some careful investigation, it has been discovered that besides the National Board of Directors we have 9 national committees and here they are:

• Citation Nominating Committee
• Investment Committee
• Marketing and Communications Committee
• National Housing Corporation
• National Leadership Committee
• National Recruitment Committee
• Order of the Golden Heart Nominating Committee
• Technology Committee
• Balanced Man Development Committee

So, I guess you are interested in knowing who is serving on these committees and how they came to be there? Well, you will just have to come back to the Sanguine et Purpure and check it out. My plane is about to leave here at Heathrow. Perhaps I will have time to continue after I get to Rome.

I am Il Doge of the poison pen and I approved this message.

Chapter of the Week - IL Epsilon - NIU

Congratulations to IL Epsilon at Northern Illinois University. They have been selected as the Chapter of the Week.