SigEp CA BB (U. of San Diego) 2014 Fall Rush Video

USD Sigma Phi Epsilon Fall - 2014 Rush Video from USD Sigma Phi Epsilon on Vimeo.

GA Alpha (Georgia Tech) 2014 Fall Rush Video

Tennessee SigEps provide housing for university intern

Posted in News on July 3, 2014 by AARON JAY LEDESMA, MARQUETTE ‘14

(http://www.sigep.org/blog/tennessee-sigeps-provide-housing-for-university-intern.html)

Tennessee Alpha SigEps are giving back to their university in a unique way. The chapter is currently housing Alex Rossmann, a female graduate intern for the university, who is working this summer on creating an anti-hazing campaign for the University of Tennessee.

The idea of housing a university intern came from the chapter faculty advisor and UT staff member Keith Becklin, Western Michigan ‘06. He told the undergraduates that the university was looking to hire an intern, but it could not provide summer housing due to its budget. 

That’s when the men of the Tennessee Alpha chapter stepped up in a big way. The chapter generously offered to provide the university with complimentary accommodations for Rossmann in their resident scholar’s suite. 

At first, Lindi Smedberg, Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life, was hesitant because the intern is a woman. However, based on Lindi's experience with the chapter, she said she felt comfortable, and Alex gladly accepted SigEp's generous offer. 

"Tennessee would not have been able to hire Alex this summer if it had not been for the help of the SigEp chapter,” says Smedberg. “The men of Sigma Phi Epsilon have gone above and beyond by cleaning, painting and furnishing the suite for Alex, including the addition of new rugs, drapes, and art work."  

The SigEps realize the importance of this unique partnership and the opportunities it can bring to their chapter and university.

“Alex is a huge asset to the campus and it is great that SigEp is able to host her,” says chapter president Robert Billings, Tennessee ‘15. “In order to make SigEp the best experience that we can, we have to be a valued partner with our universities.”

Rossmann is wrapping up her eight-week internship and has only good things to say about her summer with SigEp.


“Living with SigEp has enhanced my experience and added a new richness to my understanding of Greek life,” says Rossmann, who does not have a Greek affiliation. “Having positive relationships with the university allows Greeks to have a bigger impact on campus. I am so happy to be a part of a wonderful partnership with UT and SigEp!​"

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, we stole this from HQ. Have a good one anyway.

Training in 10 #11: BMP Basics Part III

Archie and Kyle conclude their three-part webisode series on "Balanced Man Basics" in the last "Training in 10" for the school year. This session focuses on Programming for the BMP.

Never fear, Archie will be back next fall with more vital and interesting information.

T10_11_BMP_Basics_Part_III:

Click the image to start the session:

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SigEp Cal Sigma Rush Video

The latest in our ongoing series of Outstanding Rush/Recruitment videos.
This effort is from Ethan Svoboda of CA Sigma. California State University - Northridge.

T10 Understanding the Student Conduct Part II

The latest Edition of "Training In 10." Student Conduct Part II.

T10_12_Understanding_the_Student_Conduct_Part_II:

Click the image to start the session.

http://watch.knowledgevision.com/811d4407dfc5457688a7c7da059b7398

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What happened at Mississippi Alpha (Ole Miss) - Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity

A letter from the Grand President explaining how the decision was made to close the Ole Miss. chapter.

Email - What happened at Mississippi Alpha (Ole Miss) - Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity:

As you may already know, SigEp’s National Board of Directors recently made the difficult decision to close our chapter at the University of Mississippi. This decision followed revelations that the chapter had committed serious acts of hazing, had perpetuated a culture of alcohol abuse, and was deliberately attempting to hide their behavior from our Fraternity’s staff and their local volunteers.

This painful moment in our history can be a learning opportunity for us and help us ensure that nothing like this occurs again.

What happened
Three years ago, a string of hazing incidents and extremely low academic performance led to a membership review at the University of Mississippi. This review revealed more instances of hazing, alcohol abuse and extremely poor member development practices that demanded serious attention.

We chose at that time not to shut the chapter down, but to make it a learning opportunity for the young men of Mississippi Alpha and an opportunity to develop plans for a different fraternity experience that achieves the goals of brotherhood and continuous development without the risky behaviors of the past. And, we committed to giving Mississippi Alpha whatever resources it needed.

Since then, members of our staff have made extra trips to Oxford to provide targeted training and program support. The chapter attended exclusive retreats in Birmingham, Ala. each January, where Past Grand President Steve Shanklin spent 24 hours with them reviewing goals and crafting a vision. And chapter members attended EDGE and Carlson Leadership Academies and received tailored check-in meetings with staff and volunteers.

Until recently, we believed those efforts were having a positive effect and that the chapter was improving.

In February, we reevaluated the state of the chapter’s operations and membership after learning that three freshmen members had been involved in the desecration of the James Meredith Statue on the Ole Miss campus. When we did, we learned that the chapter had continued to commit serious acts of hazing since the first membership review three years prior. Even more distressingly, the chapter had made a deliberate and concentrated effort to hide this behavior from their local volunteers, staff members and the university.

As SigEp’s National Board of Directors pored over the information uncovered, we were confronted by the fact that Mississippi Alpha members had demonstrated an uncompromising commitment to operate an experience that placed young men in dangerous and unhealthy situations. In light of these facts, we were forced to close the chapter.

Moving forward – how you can help
While it is always painful to see a chapter close, I am reminded today of the brothers and volunteers across the country who want a better fraternity experience than the one pursued by some members at Ole Miss.

As we recover from this blow to our national body, I’d ask you to take a moment to reflect on the status of your own chapter. What type of membership experience do you facilitate for your brothers? Where do you want to be five years down the road? What legacy will you leave for those who will follow you?

If your chapter has serious issues – including hazing – talk to your regional director and chapter volunteers now to get the help you need.

Closure occurs when a chapter has deliberately and consistently worked against their volunteers, staff and university to maintain a culture that is destructive and poisonous to our brothers. Being honest with volunteers and regional directors allows a chapter to grow and avoid the serious consequences of concealed behavior.

If you have additional questions about the situation at Ole Miss and the decision to close the chapter, please join us for an online broadcast on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, where CEO Brian Warren will answer questions live. To view the broadcast, simply open SigEp’s official YouTube page.

To submit questions in advance, please email comments@sigep.net. You may also email questions during the broadcast, but bear in mind that time may be limited if other questions have already been submitted. If you would like your question to be anonymous, please indicate so in your email.

Fraternally,


Phillip A. Cox
Grand President

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Making those old friends new again

Good press in a student newspaper. Congratulations to the EIU SigEps on winning the Airband and Greek Sing event. Click the link for the full article.

Column: Making those old friends new again - The Daily Eastern News: Opinion:
I can only imagine how members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity felt on Monday morning. After all, they came out this past weekend as victors of Airband and Greek Sing. I’m sure they didn't just high five each other and hit the sack early for a good night’s rest for Monday classes.

These are all assumptions of course, but in case they went out and had some fun, it was completely deserved.

These two events are not just gigs that you cram for over night. I’m not going to start a Rocky pump up speech on how much blood, sweat, and tears members of the Greek community mustered, but give these guys and gals some credit.

Events like these require planning, collaboration, and loads of practice. In order to win, you need to hit every cue, every step, and every note. In this case, is which the members of Sig Ep did this past weekend.

Wall Street pipeline fraternity snubbed by JPMorgan for excessive hazing rituals

SAE fraternity announced their no-pledging directive on the same day JP Morgan decided to stop doing business with them.

The bank, which has said it would pay more than $23 billion to resolve regulatory and criminal investigations, has cut ties since last year with about 2,000 clients that could attract scrutiny.  In February, JPMorgan said that it was reconsidering the relationship with SAE to avoid tarnishing its reputation.

A cynic would say "It's all about the Benjamins". A more charitable person might conclude the build-up of unsavory news stories caused misgivings both internal and external. Read the article and decide for yourself.

Wall Street pipeline fraternity snubbed by JPMorgan for excessive hazing rituals | Financial Post:

Early this month, JPMorgan Chase & Co. stopped managing an investment account for a prominent client: the charitable foundation of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the nation’s largest fraternities.

The bank was concerned about SAE’s bad publicity, according to Anthony Alberico, a JPMorgan vice president who dealt with the foundation. SAE has had 10 deaths linked to drinking, drugs and hazing since 2006, more than any other fraternity.

“If JPMorgan is going to turn us down, who’s next?” said Bradley Cohen, SAE’s national president. “What if universities start saying SAE’s not welcome?”

The snub by the largest U.S. bank validated a startling decision that Cohen, seeking to protect future members, had already reached. On March 7, the same day JPMorgan formally cut ties with the fraternity, the 51-year-old Cohen announced an end to one of SAE’s defining traditions: pledging, the months-long initiation where recruits sometimes fall prey to brutal hazing. The move catapulted Cohen into national prominence and drew criticism from alumni such as Texas oilman-turned-investor T. Boone Pickens. SAE became one of only a handful of 75 national fraternities to eliminate pledging.

“How much longer can we sustain these losses — loss of life, loss of credibility to those who join and drop out because they were lied to, loss of valuable resources and loss of our reputation as leaders and as true gentlemen,” Cohen told SAE brothers this month at the University of La Verne in California during his first public address since the announcement.

In this edition of Training in Ten we begin our series on better understanding the student conduct process.  In part 1 of this series, Student Affairs professionals Dr. Carrie Whittier, Suzette Walden Cole and Brian Tenclinger, Renaissance Louisiana State, talk through both the mission and purpose of a conduct office on a college campus, how a campus conduct process differs from an outside legal process, and whether parents or lawyers can be present and participate in the conduct process. 

The second part of this panel discussion will dive into how students and chapters simultaneously and successfully manage pending criminal or civil litigation while still participating in their campus conduct process and then each panelist will share best practices with our volunteers on how to better support our men and our chapters through a conduct hearing.  This webisode series is a must watch for any volunteer who is directly advising any of our SigEp chapters.

Sigma Phi Epsilon Balanced Man Fellowship to fund soccer field in Uganda | Columbia Daily Spectator

Sigma Phi Epsilon Balanced Man Fellowship to fund soccer field in Uganda | Columbia Daily Spectator:

By EMMA BOGLER 

Spectator Senior Staff Writer

March 31, 2014, 12:58am

Vivek Ramakrishnan, CC ’16, is the second Columbian to join a group of balanced men.

At a small ceremony held in Low Library on Saturday, Sigma Phi Epsilon—of which Ramakrishnan is not a member—awarded him a $3,500 Balanced Man Fellowship grant to build a soccer field in the town of Mpigi, Uganda.

BALANCING ACT | Mechanical engineering professor Mike Massimino 
was at Saturday's Balanced Man ceremony, where Sigma Phi Epsilon awarded 
Vivek Ramakrishnan, CC ’16, a $3,500 grant to build a soccer field in Uganda. 

“I’m really happy and I’m really relieved to have gotten this grant,” Ramakrishnan said, adding that the money will allow him to purchase the land for the soccer field right away. “The cost of land fluctuates a lot in that region, so if we had to buy the land a year from now it might cost twice as much.”

Ramakrishnan began collecting soccer equipment from around his hometown of Madison, Wis., in high school to donate to organizations that would distribute the equipment in Africa. He eventually started his own nonprofit, Pass It On Soccer, which collects and sends donated soccer equipment from the United States to Uganda.

Despite having to step back from running Pass It On Soccer since coming to Columbia, Ramakrishnan said he’s excited to continue his work in Uganda.

This is the second year that SigEp has awarded a $3,500 Balanced Man Fellowship after reforming the program in 2013. The fellowship uses alumni donations to help fund a student-organized philanthropic project each year. Last year’s winner, Josh Fram, CC ’16, used the money to purchase indoor rowing machines for a camp for mentally disabled athletes in his hometown of Lawrenceville, NJ.

Alex Carames, CC ’16 and SigEp’s vice president of philanthropy, said the fraternity received 11 applications for the grant this year.

“It was hard to choose between the finalists because we had so many great projects, but [Vivek’s] ultimately hit the closest to home in terms of our goals and values, and in terms of having the greatest impact on the most people,” he said at Saturday’s event.

“Every single person here tonight knows that these values encourage fraternity men to strive to make a difference in our community,” SigEp President Alexander Felsberg, CC ’15, said at the ceremony. “Every single person who has given this organization their time and effort has seen how it’s changed their lives.”

Felsberg added that he hoped the fellowship would help bridge the gap between the Greek community and the rest of campus.

“This grant is by far one of the greatest examples of the way Greek life has a positive impact on the Columbia campus,” Felsberg said.

This year’s grant is especially significant to the fraternity as it marks the 15th anniversary of SigEp’s chapter at Columbia.

“It really shows how the organization has grown substantially over time,” SigEp alumnus Tom Russell, CC ’09, said. “We give back more with each passing year.” 

“It’s important that frats get a chance to show their good side,” Russell added. “This really helps the fraternity give back to the community.”                         

“Part of the DNA of SigEp is to help others,” Sam Arora, CC ’03, said. “That’s why it’s both remarkable and yet not at all surprising to see such a significant investment going toward helping a community in need.”

SigEp: The Life Arizona State University

Arizona State University (AZ Alpha) SigEp recruitment video
Spring 2014 series of notable videos

SigEp NJ Zeta Rush Spring 2014

Rider University (NJ Zeta) SigEp recruitment video
Spring 2014 series of notable videos

SigEp Official Spring Rush TSU

Truman State University SigEp recruitment video
Spring 2014 series of notable videos

USD Sigma Phi Epsilon Spring 2014 Recruitment Video

University of San Diego (CA BB) Recruitment video Spring 2014
Spring 2014 series of notable videos

Student initiated to fraternity from hospital room

All college fraternities claim to have "Brotherhood." Here is how one Phi Kappa Tau chapter showed theirs.

The Guardian : Student initiated to fraternity from hospital room:

Bethany Foureman , Contributing Writer
March 19, 2014Filed under Top Stories, Wright Life - See more at: http://www.theguardianonline.com/wright-life/2014/03/19/student-initiated-to-fraternity-from-hospital-room/#sthash.tauvxJZX.dpuf

Wright State student Abdelrahman Mohamed spent his spring break recovering after suffering a brain aneurysm that left him hospitalized for two weeks. Unsure of what the post-surgery results would be, his fraternity Phi Kappa Tau decided to initiate him in his hospital room.

On February 11, Mohamed was rushed to the hospital via ambulance after experiencing a severe headache in the dorms.

“I had an unusual pain in my head,” Mohammed said.  “It was so painful that I was on the ground holding my head from pain.  I figured that was not just a headache and something was wrong.”

Upon arrival at Kettering Medical Center, he learned that he had suffered from a brain aneurysm.  The doctors performed surgery, but the procedure failed, leaving him in the intensive care unit.  Following the procedure he was given a 50/50 percent chance of surviving a second operation.

Mohamed is from Egypt and said he found a home away from home when he joined Phi Kappa Tau fraternity at Wright State.  His brothers filled the waiting room during his entire hospital stay.

One of the nurses asked Mohamed how long he had known the boys in the waiting area.  His response was that he had only known them for one semester at school.  The nurse could not believe how close he had become with these guys after just one semester and that he considered them his family.

“It was more than amazing having my fraternity brothers and all the Greeks support, I even introduced my fraternity to the doctors as my family when they asked.  I didn't even call my real family back home because I knew these guys got my back.”

When Mohamed entered the hospital he had not yet been initiated into Phi Kappa Tau and was still considered an associate member.  The fraternity got permission from their National President Steve Nelson to initiate him while he was in the hospital.

The initiation took place prior to Mohamed’s second surgery.

“Regardless of the outcome of the surgery, we wanted AB to be a full brother of Phi Kappa Tau,” Phi Kappa Tau President, Andrew Dover said.

When Mohamed found out he was going to be initiated in the hospital, he was thrilled.

“It was so sweet, I could barely remember what they told me but I remember getting so excited that my blood pressure kept getting high and that they had to stop many times so the nurse could come in and fix it up,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed’s second surgery was a success and his family was able to arrive in the U.S. a couple hours after.  He not only received support from his fraternity, but the whole Greek community as well.  Wright State’s Greek community raised $775 dollars to give to the family of Mohamed to relieve some of their travel expenses.

Mohamed also received numerous cards and hospital visits from members of other fraternities and sororities at Wright State.  On March 9, he went around to chapter meetings to thank everyone for their support.

“I want to thank all of you for supporting me, I greatly appreciate it,” Mohamed said at a Kappa Delta meeting. “I also want you to know that if you guys ever need anything, I’ll be there for you.”

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Training In 10 - Balanced Man Program part II

In this week's webisode SigEp's Balanced Man Program Director, Kyle Sutton, Cincinnati '12, continues our series on the basics of the Balanced Man Program. (Click the image to get started)

Last week he covered the Philosophy of the program and this week he walks us through the People and the Process.  

Please be sure to send any questions you have about the Balanced Man Program to Kyle.Sutton@SigEp.net.

Get your major chapter event in the SigEp Journal

Is your chapter holding a large alumni event or anniversary celebration? For our spring issue of the Journal, we want to include as many major alumni events as we can under the "Save the Date" section. If you have an event that will occur between May 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014, please email communications@sigep.net by Monday, March 24, with the following information: Name and date of your event. A web address or contact with email for RSVPs or additional information.        If you would like to have your chapter's alumni event profiled with an article in the Journal or on The SigEp Blog, please email communications@sigep.net with the contact information for a confident writer who can draft an article and take or obtain photos. Once you provide confirmation of your celebration date and a contact, we will follow up to provide more guidance on the article and photos. Celebrations will be considered for the Journal depending on the space and timing of submissions. The following chapters have a milestone anniversary during the next academic year. If you have information on these events, please let us know at communications@sigep.net. 2014-2015 Anniversaries 100th Lawrence, Wisconsin Alpha, February 17, 2015 Pennsylvania State, May 8, 2015 75th Wake Forest, April 19, 1940 50th Cleveland State, November 21, 1964 Michigan Tech, May 8, 1965 Nebraska-Kearney, May 15, 1965 Thank you! Sincerely, Jan Brammer Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Arizona State presidential candidate: Jonathan Cole

Click the link for the full article.

A.S. presidential candidate: Jonathan Cole | The Daily Aztec:

Cole is affiliated with Sigma Phi Epsilon, Rotaract and the Business Honors Program. He is also part of the Student African American Brotherhood, Black Business Society, FratMANers and Sports Business Initiative.

Cole said he has a vision for San Diego State and plans to unify the university by making sure all student voices are heard.

“My biggest goal is reengaging student groups on campus who feel like they have lost their identity with Associated Students,” Cole said. “Those students were a core of A.S. and brought a lot of great ideas. “

In addition to rebuilding bonds with student groups, he also plans to engage other facets of campus, such as ROTC members and athletes, who have not previously been involved with A.S.

Cole said he has shadowed the past three A.S. presidents, which has helped him develop ideas.

He plans to utilize designee positions to boards for campus club leaders to represent their organizations and build a stronger A.S. Cole also wants to establish monthly meetings with departments across campus to encourage student participation.

“In the past, we’ve had these designee spots. They’re really supposed to serve as a liaison for these executive officers,” Cole said. “We just need a little bit more follow up and reflection.”

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