Pepperdine Sig Eps Plan 10 Year Goals

Frat marks 10 years, considers the future
JAIMIE FRANKLIN - Assistant News Editor

The oldest national fraternity chapter on campus will celebrate its 10th anniversary Saturday. Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon will unveil a 10-year plan created to guide future generations to meet ambitious goals.

The plan consists of three parts intended to improve the college experiences of members and the prestige of the fraternity. This includes raising the average cumulative GPA of members to 3.5, raising $25,000 in philanthropic funds per semester, and achieving a 90 percent involvement rate in chapter activities by the year 2017.

Currently, the average GPA of Sig Ep members is roughly 3.0 President David Nesbitt-Munet, a junior, said increasing this number is part of the major reason why members are at Pepperdine in the first place.

“The main reason we’re all here is for academics,” he said. “If you’re not working hard, you’re wasting your time here.”

Pepperdine’s Sig Ep chapter is already recognized nationally for its philanthropic work, but increasing fundraising is among their main concerns in the coming years. Their annual blood drive held each spring generates nearly $25,000 worth of blood, which is donated to the American Red Cross. Their fall philanthropy, “Queen of Hearts” fundraising competition among sororities that ends with a beauty pageant, may be cancelled next year and replaced with a different campaign that will raise more money to reach the $50,000 annual goal. It is not known what the new program will be.

Increasing involvement in chapter activities, as well as other campus organizations is also among the chief concerns cited in the plan. The fraternity plans on giving each of their members an office position and requiring all members to be involved in at least one other campus organization.

“There’s always going to be guys that feel like they have more important things to do,” said Taylor Hardman, a freshman Sig Ep member who took part in developing the plan. “But we’re a brotherhood. We all need to be involved.”

Sig Ep member Matt Hubbell, a senior, came up with the idea of developing the 10-year plan after attending a leadership conference and reviewing a similar plan for the national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

“One thing I really noticed is that every time there is a new [executive] board we have a few weaknesses we want to fix but there’s really nothing we’re shooting for,” Hubbell said. “We’re more productive if we shoot for something over the long term— the next 10 generations of Sig Eps.”

According to group members, each of the goals presented is inextricably linked with the fraternity’s motto of “building balanced leaders for the world community.”
“Any type of business or organization that doesn’t have a plan for the future looses sight of their main purpose,” Nesbitt-Munet said. “[This plan] will make sure we stay focused and it gives people something to strive for.”

The goals set by the fraternity reflect the personal values of members, as well. Changing the perception many student’s have of fraternities has been a major goal of the Inter Fraternity Council, according to Nesbitt-Munet.

“People come to college with horrible, horrible ideas of what a fraternity is,” Nesbitt-Munet said. “But Pepperdine couldn’t brag or boast about raising money without fraternities and sororities.”

The plan may also motivate other Greek organizations on campus to take similar steps when approaching milestone years.

“We’re very motivated and focused and we’ve set in stone what we want to accomplish,” Hardman said.

“Hopefully this will get more guys to shoot for high standards.”