Sig Ep hosts political science class

Sigma Phi Epsilon has launched the assembly of an academic class in their house this semester, establishing their fraternity as the first Greek organization of Miami University’s campus to host a course within their residence.

The one credit hour class, POL 143, is open to 22 of the current fraternity members. It began March 8 and is held once a week on the house’s main floor.

The political science class is actually a discussion-based course concerning an interdisciplinary approach to ethics and features guest lectures from many of Miami’s departments. George Ehrhardt, a visiting assistant professor in the department of political science, is directing the course.

As many of the brothers in Sig Ep are pre-med and business, Ehrhardt wanted to find a way to bridge the gaps between the two majors and find topics that are of interest to all students taking the course.

"My goal is to get the class to work well this semester," he said.

If students respond, the fraternity will most likely keep it within the organization for at least another semester to fine-tune it, Vice President of Member Development Drew Patterson said, but in the future they may allow all Miami students to enroll.

"The potential (for the class) is endless, but right now the next step would be to get the rest of the Greek community into this class," Patterson said.

The process to create the class began within the last five years, Patterson explained, when Sig Ep was named a Residential Learning Community by their national headquarters.

This title enabled the fraternity to receive further funding that provided for tables, computers, Internet access and an office created for faculty members to work with fraternity members once a week.

Ehrhardt wanted to become further involved with the fraternity and brought up the idea of starting a class in the house, as it is a more comfortable learning situation.

"The only thing I don’t want is for this to become a free credit hour," Ehrhardt said.

Students are still required to do reading on issues before class, write a one to three page summary of their thoughts and attend all seven weeks of class, according to the syllabus.

According to Patterson, the course is run through the political science department but is not really a politics-based course.

Patterson explained that the primary reason the fraternity is hosting the class is to show the campus that Greek life is not all about parties and for the fraternity, which currently has the second highest grade point average on campus, to succeed in getting the highest.

Evan Rembolt, the Interfraternity Council vice president of public relations, believes this class is a giant step toward success for all Greek life on campus. He said this may inspire a friendly competition between the Greek organizations and may cause more Greek courses to spring up in the future.

"This is ground-breaking, something that has never happened before," Rembolt said. "With the Sigma Epsilon house being new, I think this is the right time and the right place to do something like this."

Tuesday, the second meeting, the class will discuss ethical issues in gender relations and Michele Polak.


The Miami Student Online