Fraternity Membership in Black and White

Gregg Presbury (MD Zeta) sent us this thought provoking entry.

A Post for SigEp Blog:

My wife and I were finalizing our plans for inviting a mutual friend to educate Maryland Zeta Chapter (Salisbury U) on the history of the Black Greek Letter Organization (BGLO) Alpha Phi Alpha and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). During our discussion we began to talk about the glass wall between historically Black and White Greeks. This discussion got me curious as to the state of the Fraternity world in the Era of Obama. I searched the Internet and found some interesting things are afoot: President Clinton recently became a member of Phi Beta Sigma (NPHC Fraternity), Erica Schlemmer became the first white member of Vanderbilt's Delta Sigma Theta (NPHC Sorority), Darek Jackson as of September 2009 was LSU's only active member of Iota Phi Theta (NPHC Fraternity) he also is the first white member of the chapter and Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) was the first NIC Fraternity at Howard University (2006).

In the late 1950's Sigma Phi Epsilon was a trailblazer in the NIC world by stepping across the Jim Crow line and initiating former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Vermont Beta Brother (Middlebury College) Ronald Brown (8/1/41 – 4/3/96). Brother Brown was our first Afro-American member. Brother Brown's acceptance into SigEp was an extremely controversial and brave move on the part of our leadership and members as this occurred only about five years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and nearly a full decade before Martin Luther King presented his “I Have A Dream” speech. At past Conclaves and Carlsons stories have been told of how our last surviving founding father had to be escorted from the room to allow a non-discrimination clause being added to Article I Section 1A of the National Bylaws in 1959.

I like to think our current membership is as at least as open minded as our Brothers of the 1950s and early 60s. Yet the question remains what has happened since then? More members of color have joined but not an overwhelming number. Chapters have been added to nationally prominent campuses but not prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Pi Kappa Alpha is still the only NIC Fraternity at Howard University. Of note since PIKE entered Howard we have established at east two chapters in the same community without mention of Howard U as a goal for a third SEC in DC.

When I attended the Centennial Conclave as a young alum I was encouraged that I was not the only minority present but was also discouraged that nearly fifty years after the diversity statement we only had a handful of non-white members present for such a momentous occasion. Years have passed and I have seen more minority members at Carlsons but still no HBCU representation.

SigEp offers a great program and enormous opportunities for those who truly take on the challenges of the Balanced Man education. There are thousands of young men of color on our campuses and at HBCUs that are not being offered the opportunity to benefit from our organization's opportunities. Do we have a plan to address this? In this era of tightening budgets, competition and globalization can SigEp afford to sit on the sidelines watching an untapped resource such as HBCUs go by? Do we need to introduce more diversity educators to SigEp's leadership training and Regional Director echelons? If so how? Is SigEp no longer a leader in diversity awareness and appreciation? Should we change our creed? What are your thoughts?

More food for thought: The nation will be more racially and ethnically diverse, as well as much older, by mid-century. Minorities, now roughly one-third of the U.S. population, are expected to become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54 percent minority in 2050. By 2023, minorities will comprise more than half of all children. - U.S. Census August 14, 2008

Brother Gregg Presbury
Salisbury University Maryland Zeta 1996

A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges

According to this WaPo article, colleges may be about to follow in the path of print media - a slow decline that steepens as the traditional business model becomes gradually non-sustainable.

Students starting school this year may be part of the last generation for which "going to college" means packing up, getting a dorm room and listening to tenured professors. Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet. The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges cannot survive.
[...]
Both newspapers and universities have traditionally relied on selling hard-to-come-by information. Newspapers touted advertising space next to breaking news, but now that advertisers find their customers on Craigslist and Cars.com, the main source of reporters' pay is vanishing. Colleges also sell information, with a slightly different promise -- a degree, a better job and access to brilliant minds. As with newspapers, some of these features are now available elsewhere. A student can already access videotaped lectures, full courses and openly available syllabuses online. And in five or 10 years, the curious 18- (or 54-) year-old will be able to find dozens of quality online classes, complete with take-it-yourself tests, a bulletin board populated by other "students," and links to free academic literature.

This is a good article and worth the time investment to read it. As a former student of The University of Phoenix (MBA 2007) I can attest to increased availability of information online. Although I attended a "brick & mortar" classroom, all our books, reference articles, and syllabus documents were available on the UoP site, and I still have access to all the material in the virtual library.

Maybe the idea of an "Internet Alpha Chapter" is not so far fetched after all. Some of us who are thinking 20 years down the road would do well to consider what such a group would look like and how best to communicate the ideals and concepts across a virtual chapter. You can bet someone will; it may as well be SigEp.

A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges - washingtonpost.com

Court Orders UF to Recognize BYX

Appeals court: UF must recognize Christian-only frat
By Nathan Crabble Sun staff writer

The University of Florida has more than 60 officially recognized student groups that include religion as part of their missions, including groups for Christian pharmacy students and Jewish law students.

Yet the university denied a Christian fraternity, Beta Upsilon Chi, recognition on the grounds its membership policies were discriminatory.

Beta Upsilon Chi sued UF, leading an appeals court this week to require the university to recognize the fraternity as the case was being decided.

"All we're trying to do is get a group of guys who share a common bond in Jesus Christ together," said Damion Dam, a 20-year-old UF finance/pre-med major and fraternity president. "I really don't see why we weren't recognized in the first place."

University officials say there's a major distinction between Beta Upsilon Chi, or BYX, and other religious groups on campus. BYX requires members to be Christians, while other student groups are open to non-believers.

"The University of Florida welcomes all kinds of student groups including those with a religious focus," said Janine Sikes, UF spokeswoman. "(But) if someone who is a non-Christian wants to join, they should be able to."

BYX, pronounced Bucks, is the largest Christian fraternity in the U.S. Since being formed at the University of Texas in 1985, it has expanded to 20 other campuses.

The University of Georgia chapter was allowed as student groups under threat of legal action, but UF was the first to force the issue to court.

The U.S. Constitution requires universities to recognize religious groups, said Isaac Fong, an attorney for the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom who represented BYX.

"What we're arguing here is the First Amendment protects the right of students to form a group around a set of shared principles," he said.

Religious groups at UF walk a tightrope between specialization and discrimination. The Christian Veterinary Fellowship, which conducts mission work in other countries, is an example of an officially recognized group with a religious focus.

"That doesn't mean that we ask everyone who comes to our meetings whether they're Christian or not," said Michelle Bellville, a fourth-year vet student and group president. "We're open to everyone."

But she said members are likely to be Christians or searching for religion.
She cited the case of an undergraduate who came to a meeting to hear a speech and soon converted to Christianity.

As a recognized student organization, the group can use UF facilities and receive funding from student government. BYX's lawsuit claims that the university, by withholding those privileges from the frat, violated Constitutional rights to free exercise of religion, freedom of association and freedom of speech.

According to the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Gainesville, UF initially denied recognition of the group on the basis that they limit membership to men. Dam said the fraternity found a sister group to address that issue, but was told its policy to admit only Christians posed another roadblock.

UF requires student groups to comply with nondiscrimination laws and not discriminate of the basis of race, religion, sex and other personal characteristics.

The district court ruled against an injunction that would require UF to recognize the fraternity while the case was being decided. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision, allowing recognition until a final ruling is made.

Brett Williams, national board member of BYX, said the order has wider implications.
"It has repercussions for all other religious groups who desire to assemble on university campuses," he said.

Sikes said UF will now allow BYX to start the process of being recognized as a student group, but it was uncertain whether the order had wider implications.

Dam said the fraternity's dozen members will start chapter business such as arranging for campus meeting space, even though the case is still pending.

"If anything does change, we still had this time when we were on campus," he said.

HQ Year End Report

HQ has released their Year End Report in which Bro. Templeton describes in glowing terms all the wonderful things that have been accomplished by the folks from the mother ship. This report is not available on the HQ site, but was apparently emailed to the critical volunteer list. Our copy must have been mis-filed, as we did not get it directly. However, we have always relied on the kindness of brothers and they did not let us down. There is now a pdf file of the report available - click on the picture above to view it.

We will leave commentary on how well the map fits the territory to those who are closer to the action.

New Chapter Announcement

Ed Jones, Chapter Counselor for the DC SEC - American University, sends an announcement that the chapter has been notified they will be officially installed as DC Delta. The installation date has not been set for certain, but he expects it will be this coming October.

Congratulations! Anyone who has been involved in the process of chartering a chapter knows it is not a simple task. Lots of hard work and commitment are involved.

Dry Rush and No Women Hits ASU Rush Week

No women, alcohol during ASU fraternity rush week
Frat also withdraws plan to limit creation of new chapters at ASU
by Andre Radzischewski

Alcohol and women - two ingredients sometimes associated with Greek life - won't be part of rush, when ASU's fraternities invite students to get to know them this week.

The six-member executive board of the Interfraternity Council approved rules on Dec. 6 that will ban girls and alcohol from all rush events, IFC President Davey Breitman said.

The IFC is the governing body of the University's 20 social chapters. Its rush week began Friday and runs through Thursday."We want to focus on brotherhood, friendship and academics," Breitman said. "When you bring things like alcohol and girls into the equation, you don't attract the crowd that we're looking for."

Breitman said because potential recruits are welcome at the chapters' houses throughout rush week, the alcohol ban extends to all fraternity-sponsored events through the end of January.

"Basically, you can't have a recruitment event Thursday and then throw a party Friday," Breitman said.

Kappa Alpha President Keith Katz said his fraternity, which tries to attract "Southern gentlemen," supports the rules."The deciding factor shouldn't be who brings the most booze or who has the most girls at rush events," Katz said.

Breitman added that, by banning alcohol and girls from rush event, the IFC sought to attract "high-character people," not mend the at-times tense atmosphere with the University's administration.

"This IFC executive board intends to work hand-in-hand with the administration to make sure that their expectations of Greek life are met," Breitman said.

Katz said the prime area of contentions in the past have been over housing issues, when some fraternities felt like they were being pushed off-campus.

"It would be nice if there was a more supportive attitude from the University administration," Katz said.

Meanwhile, the Sigma Pi house announced it will withdraw a proposal to change IFC's bylaws, which would have changed the rules for fraternity expansion.

Breitman said the legislation's goal was to add members to the chapters already at ASU before new chapters could come to the University.

He compared the approach to expansion to major league baseball, where existing teams have to establish themselves before new ones are added.The IFC's 20 chapters average about 70 members each, Breitman said, while ASU's 11 sororities average more than 125 members per chapter.

Sigma Pi President Kyle Koelbel said he decided to withdraw the proposal at the next IFC meeting because of a conversation with Pete Smithhisler, the executive vice president of the North-American Interfraternity Council, an umbrella organization for 71 fraternities in the United States and Canada."[The policy] did not agree with NIC's mission and purpose," Koelbel said.

Boise State looks to Expand Greeks

BSU Looks to Grow More Greek Life
By Kiersten Throndsen

Boise State heads back to school on Monday. This semester they're expecting record enrollment of 19,000 students. With growing interest and a changing image some BSU leaders think it's time to start thinking more Greek.

It's a far cry from the frat life in the well-known party movie 'Animal House.' In fact, many students at Boise State might not think about Greek life at all here.

"I think of it more as being a U of I thing," said BSU Senior Ryan Noack when asked what he thought about Greek life on campus.

"A lot of the students on campus don't actually know that there are Greeks on campus, let a lone what a Greek is," agreed President of the Kappa Sigma Chapter Craig Whitten.

But some Boise State leaders are working to change that, looking into what it might take to expand their Greek system.

"Fraternity and Sorority members, when they graduate, tend to be more actively involved in the community, they also tend to be more actively involved with the alumni associations," said Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, John McGuire.

McGuire says those are benefits the entire community can reap with a more dominant Greek presence at the University.

Right now there are four sororities, four fraternities, and only one campus house for each. The largest Frat is Kappa Sigma with 40 members but only 12 brothers can live in their house.

"It's a lot different from what you see in the movies or on TV."Whitten says his frat would love to see more Greek housing, something McGuire says is possible with their long term plans but he also says BSU will never have the traditional Greek system.

"It's not going to be the houses that will hold 75 to 120 people that's just not feasible for a Metropolitan University," McGuire told CBS 2 Eyewitness News.

BSU says they want to expand on what's already happening with their Greek life, but they don't plan to support the kind of Greek system you might see in 'Animal House' at Boise State anytime soon.

Plans to expand BSU's Greek life won't happen overnight. The University is having a fraternity and sorority team come to the campus in October. They will help BSU come up with a vision on how they can grow their Greek life to fit into a long term plan for their student body.

The Task Force also will travel around the country to see what works good when it comes to Greek systems at other, similar universities.

Sig Ep to Return to Clarion

Sigma Phi Epsilon to recolonize at Clarion University

The Clarion University Interfraternity Council (IFC) recently invited Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), the nation’s largest fraternity, to recolonize its chapter at Clarion beginning in the fall of 2007.

“The IFC is happy that SigEp has accepted our invitation to come to campus,” said Joshua Pierce, IFC president. We think they will make a welcome addition to the fraternity community that will motivate & challenge our existing chapters to excel.”

SigEp is the nation’s largest fraternity in terms of undergraduate membership and is widely recognized as a pioneer in leadership development due to the organization’s award winning educational and leadership programming. SigEp is a non-pledging fraternity guided by a commitment to offering continuous personal and professional development for every member of our organization. SigEp’s Balanced Man Program and Leadership Continuum is the most comprehensive development program offered by any national fraternity.

In addition to SigEp’s development programs, various partnerships with companies and organizations that share SigEp’s vision have been a major factor helping drive the mission of “Building Balanced Leaders for the World’s Communities.” Franklin-Covey, Men’s Health Magazine, the U.S. Department of Education, and even the White House have all partnered with SigEp at some level to help SigEp members live their best lives, an effort unmatched in the fraternity world.

SigEp has over 13,000 members on over 250 college campuses nationwide and enjoys the resources of over 200,000 living alumni around the world. SigEp is the only national fraternity above a 3.0 GPA.

“We are extremely pleased that SigEp will be returning to campus,” said Shawn Hoke, Assistant Director of Campus Life. “They are a visionary and leader among fraternities with respect to their membership development programming. We firmly believe that SigEp’s return to campus will enhance and strengthen our fraternity & sorority community.”

SigEp is also offering several scholarships to Clarion students in honor of the occasion. Award winners will be selected based on their commitment to the SigEp ideals of Sound Mind and Sound Body in pursuit of living their best life. The scholarship is open to all non-Greek males with a 3.0 grade point average or better. Incoming freshmen and upperclassmen are welcome to apply. Interviews will begin this summer and last into early September. The scholarships will be awarded at a reception in September. Applications are available online at www.SigEp.org/Clarion.

Who are you, and what have you done with my fraternity?

(Thanks to Gregg Presbury for this revelation)

A small entry in a news item today caught our eye:

Illinois College
Aurora: Mackenzie Buchanan has pledged to Sigma Phi Epsilon Literary Society

Apparently these folks have been around a while too...

Illinois College--Sigma Phi Epsilon

History

Illinois College is the only college in Illinois, and quite possibly, the only remaining college in the country that includes literary, fraternal and social activities in one organization. Initial literary society formation on the campus began in 1843 due to strong interest in intercollegiate oratory and requests for organizations specializing in literary and forensic expression.

The seven literary societies, three women’s (Gamma Delta, Chi Beta and Sigma Phi Epsilon) and four men’s (Sigma Pi, Phi Alpha, Gamma Nu and Pi Pi Rho), continue to flourish at Illinois College. They hold weekly business meetings and literary programs, where members offer debates, orations, essays, declamations, dramatic monologues, readings, extemporaneous speeches and individual compositions. They also offer many services and social activities that benefit society members, all Illinois College students and the Jacksonville community. Literary societies are a unique entity and are truly worth investigating.

Sigma Phi Epsilon
Nickname: Phips
Founded: 1916
Colors: Yellow and White
Motto: "Knowledge, Love and Service."
Flower: Daisy
Brothers: The men of Sigma Pi

So... when does the copyright infringement lawsuit go to trial?

Fraternity Expansion Blocked by Chapman U

Chapman U. dean under scrutiny for scolding outcast fraternity
By Derek Olson

Pascal DeMaria and his best friend Cameron Clark recruited a strong group of potential members and were gearing up for the first fraternity expansion at the expensive private school in six years. School administrators listened to their plan and seemed open to the idea. They would start the first Jewish frat at Chapman, a chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu-a national fraternity known colloquially as the Sammy.

The students say they were told that if they went through the proper channels, they would be rewarded when expansion time came around in the fall. They had a lot going for them: They already had enough members to have a strong presence on campus, and they would be the first culturally based fraternity, which are staples at larger schools.

Now, about a year and a half later, Sigma Alpha Mu exists on the fringes of campus life. Not only did DeMaria, Clark and friends not get their charter, but they are also forbidden from advertising or holding social events with other fraternities and sororities.

Just mentioning the fraternity’s existence or affiliation with the school could get a member suspended.

They’ve even been ordered to remove a group formed on the college social-networking website Facebook.

After their promising beginning, the Sammy saga at Chapman degenerated into a cacophony of accusations, admonishments and acrimony. The actions of one top school administrator toward the aspiring frat boys are the subject of a formal complaint made to the Department of Education, alleging a violation of federal student privacy laws.
* * *
Before they made their application, the potential recruits had considered joining existing frats, but the fit wasn’t right. On a small campus like Chapman-fewer than 5,000 undergraduates-everybody knows the reputations of the houses, and these men wanted something different.

“It’s not like we just made this decision without looking at what was on campus already,” DeMaria said. When fraternity-expansion time came in the fall of 2006, Chapman had received 13 applications from other fraternities. None of them had a student presence on campus except Sigma Alpha Mu.

The other applications-from fraternities headquartered all over the country-amounted to prepackaged business plans, according to DeMaria and Clark. Reassured by campus Greek-life associate director Chris Hutchinson they were practically a shoo-in, DeMaria and Clark say, the Sammy hopefuls focused their attention on their presentation to school administrators and other fraternity student leaders.

But their chance to present their case never came.

Sigma Alpha Mu members were stunned when their group wasn’t even considered in the final three.

Phi Gamma Delta, a Kentucky-based fraternity, better known as Fiji, which sent a representative and had no student support on campus, was chosen.“They knew we already existed,” Clark said. “We’ve talked to all these guys, and then, for them not even include us in the final three, it was pretty much a slap in the face.”

Hutchinson did not return numerous calls seeking comment for this story.Chapman spokeswoman Mary Platt said the other applications were simply better; the fact that the group had a strong presence on campus was not considered.“If that consideration were allowed, the expansion process would become circus-like, with every potential organization trying to drum up support and lobby for members before they are even approved,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Sigma Alpha Mu expansion consultant Scott Resnick, who in 2006 oversaw the founding of six chapters in nine months, said only that Chapman was by far the most difficult to work with of any school he visited.

Refusing to accept defeat, the Chapman group continued to announce its presence on campus and attempted to recruit new members, DeMaria said. That’s when one administrator decided to put them in the pillory.

Chapman Dean of Students Joe Kertes wrote a letter to the school’s Sammy members and demanded they make the national headquarters of Sigma Alpha Mu, an organization with 80 chapters nationwide, write him personally disavowing any affiliation with them or Chapman.

If Kertes’ conditions weren’t met, DeMaria, Clark and their cohorts “could be in violation of the Student Conduct Code for which you will personally be responsible,” the letter said.

The letter also stipulated the group could absolutely never meet on campus or intermingle with other Chapman-sanctioned Greeks.

Kertes then forwarded copies of the admonishing letter to other campus fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, who quickly spread the word that anyone affiliated with Sigma Alpha Mu was in the hot seat. With that letter, DeMaria said, sentiment among students went from supportive to antagonistic.

Letters to the campus newspaper railed against them, other frats let potential recruits know they could be suspended for joining Sigma Alpha Mu, and their peers generally assumed the most vocal members had one foot out the door at Chapman.

“I lost a whole bunch of friends because of it,” DeMaria said. “People on campus, when they see me wearing my fraternity T-shirt, they look at me in disgust.”Kertes’ public banishment spurred DeMaria to file a complaint in March against Chapman with the arm of the U.S. Department of Education that enforces the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Under FERPA, it is illegal for administrators to reveal the disciplinary records of students, or even potential disciplinary action, department spokesman Jim Bradshaw said.

Thus Kertes’ letter is a possible FERPA violation, according to Bradshaw.

“‘Personally identifiable’ is the phrase around which the whole world of FERPA swirls,” he said. “It wouldn’t necessarily have to be their name; anything that could tie a student to a record or incident could be an issue.”

Kertes did not return repeated interview requests for this story.Chapman breached FERPA once before, in 2002, according to Department of Education documents, when a student overheard a professor busting another student for plagiarism, the documents said. The incident resulted in Chapman faculty being forced to undergo additional FERPA training, the documents said.

But training aside, the top administrator at Chapman doesn’t seem to pay the law much respect.Chapman President James Doti, who declined a request to comment on this story, recently expressed his distaste for FERPA in an April 29 Op-Ed column in The Orange County Register.

Doti said FERPA-which he described as “ham-fisted”-prevented Virginia Tech from foreseeing madman Cho Seung-Hui’s murderous rampage last month. Doti’s argument was that fewer restrictions on information sharing could help keep students safer.

For the members of Sigma Alpha Mu, being painted as a renegade band of outlaws hasn’t stopped them from carrying on with their fraternity.

Bradshaw said the Department of Education responds to all complaints, but the process sometimes takes months because of a backlog. If Chapman is found to have breached the law, the school would probably only need to show it has done something to remedy the situation, like more training for faculty and staff. The department’s ultimate punitive measure is to cut schools off from all federal funding, which includes student loans, but that measure has never been used, Bradshaw said.

DeMaria says that with 11 members remaining, the fraternity will continue next year, off campus. However, if the school waits six years to add another fraternity, all of those students will be gone. And even if the fraternity can hold out until the next round, there is no guarantee they will ever be recognized by Chapman.

Link to the Chapman University website.

Sig Ep Installs Georgetown Chapter

Georgetown SigEp Receives National Charter
By Erica Haviland

Georgetown’s chapter of the national fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon received an official charter from the organization’s national headquarters on Saturday, but the group still remains unrecognized by the university.

The charter recognizes Sigma Phi Epsilon, commonly known as SigEp, as the District of Columbia Gamma chapter of the national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, which has more than 260 chapters nationwide and is the largest undergraduate fraternity in the country in terms of enrollment. SigEp National Headquarters approved the chapter’s 200-page application, which detailed every aspect of the fraternity’s day-to-day operations, in January.

The fraternity was formally awarded the charter at a black-tie banquet at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Many fraternity members gathered with dates, parents and alumni to accept their official charter from staff members of the fraternity’s national headquarters. The installation ceremony was followed by a four-course meal and dance.

Chapter President Paul Happel (COL ’08) said that receiving a charter was especially significant for SigEp because the university does not recognize Greek organizations.
“Having a charter shows that SigEp Headquarters thinks we’re strong and efficient enough to exist at a campus without a Greek life,” he said. “For them to give us a charter, without us being able to rely on competition with other fraternities on campus, shows that they recognize we’re able to stand alone here.”

Happel said the national headquarters only approves about 50 percent of the applications it receives nationally.

Under the university’s Access to Benefits Policy, fraternities and sororities are not eligible for recognition as student organizations at Georgetown. The policy stipulates that student groups must be “open to the entire Georgetown University undergraduate student community” and must not engage in “discriminatory, secret or ritualized membership practices.”

Georgetown does recognize certain fraternities, including Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, and Phi Alpha Delta, a law fraternity, both of which are co-ed and have open membership policies.

“[Alpha Phi Omega] is open to anyone. Although it is called a fraternity, it is a service fraternity and has open membership,” Director of Student Programs Martha Swanson said. “It is not a social fraternity in the Greek tradition.”

Greg Barra, director for new chapter development at SigEp’s national headquarters in Richmond, Va., said Georgetown’s status as a non-Greek school was a consideration in the decision to accept the group’s charter application.

“Since there isn’t an established Greek community at Georgetown, the brothers have to do a lot more on their own in terms of creating philanthropy activities, student involvement activities and recruitment,” he said. “It’s really incumbent upon members to take it upon themselves to recruit, as opposed to at schools with established Greek communities that have a more established system for recruitment.”

While receiving a charter does not change SigEp’s relationship with the university, Happel said it will affect the fraternity’s involvement in Georgetown student life. Now that chartering is complete, the club will have more funds available for community service, recruitment, personal development programs for members and on-campus entertainment, he said.

In order to fund the banquet, which more than 150 people attended, the club had to spend about 30 percent of membership dues from the past two years, Happel said.

Sigma Phi Epsilon is the only social fraternity on campus, which means that it is not oriented toward a profession or community service. Happel said the fraternity focuses on improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of its members through lectures, meetings with trainers and nutritionists, group workouts and other programs. He said the chapter has 69 members and follows a no-pledging, no-hazing recruitment policy.

Chapter Vice President for Communications Joseph Curran (SFS ’09) said all members share similar principles. “SigEp is based only on certain core values that each of the brothers hold—virtue, diligence, brotherly love, sound mind and sound body.”

Northern Arizona Sig Eps Are Here!

Arizona Gamma Chartered on Saturday, March 3!

Arizona Gamma at Northern Arizona University celebrated a successfull chartering this past weekend. Grand President Yeatts and his wife Elaine enjoyed their time in Flagstaff with more than 100 brothers and friends.

Archie's charge to the chapter focused on the need to focus attention upon academic achievement and growth in manpower. The chapter is supported in this mission by local volunteers and district governor Joe Montana.

UC Berkeley's Gay Fraternity Recruits 1st Class

New Gay Fraternity Hopes to Boost Activism
By Vincent Quan
Contribution Writer

UC Berkeley’s only gay fraternity will be offering its first bids this semester in an effort to push gay rights to the forefront of campus politics.
Preceded by a chapter of gay fraternity Delta Lambda Phi that existed briefly in the 1990s, Sigma Epsilon Omega, founded this semester by junior Travis Garcia, aims to be UC Berkeley’s only gay fraternity to register with the Interfraternity Council, a process which will require $1 million in liability coverage.
With the goal of establishing a fraternity house by next fall, Sigma Epsilon Omega is already registered as a student group.
“A fraternity is pretty hard to start,” Garcia said. “We are talking about difficulties such as a lack of leadership and liability. These organizations require time, effort and dedicated people.”

Though Sigma Epsilon Omega will function as a general social fraternity, it will be politically and professionally oriented around the gay movement, Garcia said.

The fraternity will attend football games and organize events such as parties and dances. However, it will also have a strong focus on networking opportunities for gay students in professional fields, he said.
Though UC Berkeley is home to approximately 20 LGBT organizations, Sigma Epsilon Omega will be unique in its aim to bring like-minded people together, Garcia said.
“As a fraternity, Sigma Epsilon Omega is hoping to appeal not only to existing active members of the Berkeley gay community, but also to members of the gay community that have not yet found an organization that has aligned with their common interests or goals,” he said in a statement.
While oriented towards the gay community, Sigma Epsilon Omega will demonstrate no preference for homosexuals over other people, Garcia said.
“We will not discriminate against anyone, gay or straight,” he said. “If someone who is straight feels they would be a good match for the fraternity, they will be considered like everyone else.”

While Sigma Epsilon Omega has garnered generally positive feedback from campus and the Greek council, Garcia said he does not foresee a process free from opposition.
Yet, Garcia said he will attack the opposition head-on through debates.
“For being such a progressive campus, gay rights have kind of been on the back burner,” he said. “We are going to be unique because we are going to take an active approach to addressing gay issues.”

Sigma Epsilon Omega should not be seen as the gay fraternity, but rather as an alternative form of campus involvement and another choice members of the gay community can make, said Billy Curtis, director of the Gender Equity Resource Center at UC Berkeley.
Though Sigma Epsilon Omega may be UC Berkeley’s only gay fraternity, the Greek system has generally been very accepting of homosexuality, Garcia said.

“With over 30 chapters, the IFC has a proud and storied tradition of being an inclusive and diverse organization,” said IFC President Nikhil Bhagat. “SEO, and other organizations, will be welcomed and evaluated according to the same basic standards of membership as any other fraternal organization.”

Growing the Greeks at Metropolitan State

Metro State students play down booze as they launch frats, sororities

Chris Frates, Denver Post Staff Writer

With its reputation as a commuter school for older students, Metropolitan State College of Denver doesn't conjure images of Greek bacchanals with party people drinking from garbage cans full of jungle juice.

Even so, about 75 students at Metro are working to establish 10 fraternities and sororities - minus the boozy attitude.

Students say they are craving more campus life at a school where students drive home each day after they've finished classes. Before coming to Metro, Daniel Blaney, a 23-year-old senior, attended community college, "and this felt like a community college."

"We wanted to bring a taste of college life to Metro," said Blaney, who is vice president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter that he hopes to bring to campus.
If he succeeds in setting up the chapter, it will follow a national increase in fraternity membership. Among fraternities in the North-American Interfraternity Conference, membership has increased about 12 percent over the past five years to 350,000 undergraduate men, said conference executive vice president Jon Williamson.

Like their established counterparts on more traditional campuses during rush season, the recruiters at Metro emphasize their fledgling organizations' values of scholarship, service and familial bonds.

But unlike at other schools, the Metro Greeks are less likely to fit the just-graduated-from- high-school-let's-party mold.

Take Jacinda Ughetti. The 27- year-old is married, works full time and majors in English literature. She's also a founding member and treasurer of Phi Sigma Sigma."I never, ever, ever in my life thought I would join a sorority," she said. "You get the sorority stereotypes from the scary movies where she's frail, weak and dumb."But, she said, the stereotypes aren't true. For one, there's no drinking, Ughetti said.

That was a selling point for Brieana Kennedy, who was introduced to Ughetti at a recent Meet the Greeks event."To have somewhere I can go without the activity being centered around alcohol is important," said Kennedy, a 25-year- old single mom.

At Metro, those 23 and older are 56 percent of the student body, according to university figures.

Similarly, in Metro's Greek community, 60 percent of the members are older than 21, said Gretta Mincer, Metro's interim associate director of student activities.
The older students have brought more maturity and organization to their startups than are sometimes seen in sororities and fraternities run by younger, more traditional students, Mincer said.

Currently, there is no push for on-campus Greek housing or alcohol use at student functions. But an increase in Greek life in the next few years is expected to bring more discussions about both issues, Mincer said.

She said she would like to see students be "proactive around the issue of alcohol" rather than the college imposing an outright ban.

Alcohol and fraternities took center stage in 2004 after Colorado State University sophomore Samantha Spady and University of Colorado freshman Lynn "Gordie" Bailey were found dead in fraternity houses.

Mark Koepsell, CSU's Greek Life director, said Spady's death taught the importance of keeping alcohol out of Greek housing."If I were ever to start out a new system, I would keep it substance-free and never go down that road," he said.

CLA Appleton - Cold weather, Warm friendships

Another report on CLA, tis time from Appleton Wisconsin. Brought to you by Kevin Teets. (Can you tell he has some newspaper experience?)

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Negative temperatures were not enough to chill the momentum and celebration in Appleton, Wisconsin as 200 members of Sigma Phi Epsilon joined together this weekend for the Carlson Leadership Academy (CLA).

Chapters from the states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin participated in the leadership development events of the CLA that began on Friday night with information on attending the Atlanta Conclave, and concluded on Saturday night with an awards dinner and keynote speech delivered by past District Governor and current National Leadership Committee member Tom Barton.

The focus of this year's CLA was execution. Former expansion director for Sigma Phi Epsilon Headquarters, John Schuyler, gave the charge to those in attendance. Schuyler's dynamic presentation was more than just a speech. Schuyler delivered comments on a topic, and then challenged each chapter to come up with responses to his question. Schuyler asked chapter members to identify specifically what the recruitment phrase "lifeblood of the fraternity," actually means. Faculty and volunteers rotated from table to table listening and assisting with discussion on the topic of execution and the importance of recruitment.

Friday night's events concluded with each brother being given a selected portion of the Buchanan Cup Application. The "Buc Cup," named for past Grand President Edwin Buchanan, who graduated from Ohio State in 1911, is the fraternity's premiere chapter award. In keeping with the theme of execution, Drake University's Resident Scholar, Kevin Teets, informed the audience that the Buchanan Cup application served as a "gut-check" for chapters to measure their current performance. The coveted Buchanan Cup is awarded biannually at the Grand Chapter Conclave. Chapters were told that this year's Buchanan Cup application is due on April 2, 2007.

Saturday morning began bright and early. Breakfast was served at 8 a.m., and the first session titled "Building Balance," commenced at 9 a.m. This session focused on building upon the self-evaluation of the Buc Cup applications that were filled out the night before. After this session, current chapter officers and those aspiring to be in a chapter leadership position went to rooms for training on the topics of chapter president, vice president of programming, vice president of member development, vice president of finance, vice president of communications, vice president of recruitment, and chaplain training.

These training sessions were facilitated by CLA faculty including John Schuyler, Chris Dillion, Shawn Dalgleish, Dave Friederichs, Ryan McCavitt, Mark Allen, David McLaughlin, Kevin Teets, Tom McGreevey and David Haug. Lunch and a keynote speech delivered by Brother McGreevey provided for a break between the officer training sessions.

The afternoon provided time for CLA participants to attend different hot topic sessions. Four sessions were on the topic of "Rainmaker Skills," taught by Brothers Dillion, Friederichs, Warren and Schuyler. Other hot topic sessions included Balanced Man Scholarship Summer Recruitment, Improving Senior Apathy, Improving the Brother Mentor Challenge, SigEp History, and the Ruck Leadership Institute.

An hour break between the last hot topic session allowed for brothers to adorn themselves in suits, ties and fraternity pins to celebrate the ritual of Sigma Phi Epsilon. SigEp members that had not been initiated participated in a discussion on ritual and brotherhood led by Brother Teets. A very moving impromptu gavel pass took place during this meeting that allowed for new members to talk about why SigEp is important to them.

After the ritual and ritual study, all brothers gathered together for the awards dinner. District Governor Dave Friederichs emceed the closing events. The awards dinner began with the annual raffle. Up for grabs this year was among other things, a pearl founders badge, a scholarship, and an Apple iPod Nano. Some confusion erupted as the names were drawn for the raffle prizes. The name that was drawn to win the iPod Nano was the same name that was told to sit down only moments before. Despite some recounts being demanded, the confusion set the stage for some very entertaining comments to be exchanged between Friederichs and Brother Barton.

Brother Barton's keynote speech challenged all brothers to be appreciative of what the founders created, especially William Philips, otherwise known as Uncle Billy. Barton reminded all brothers that they are forever in debt to Uncle Billy, and that they should do all that they can to pay that debt back to Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Awards and recognitions were given throughout the CLA. Among those recognized for their work for setting up the CLA were SigEp Administrative Coordinator Barbara Shanahan and SigEp Health and Wellness Director Ryan Blanck. Other key assistants on site included undergraduate Whitaker Leonhardt and Director of Chapter Campaigns, Scott Thompson.

Manpower Excellence Awards are given to those chapters who are number one on their campus in manpower. This award was given to ND Alpha, Wisconsin Beta, Iowa Delta, Minnesota Alpha and Wisconsin Theta.

Iowa Delta (Drake University) and Wisconsin Beta (University of Wisconsin) were also recognized for having more than 90 members.

Chapters that had excelled academically and achieved a grade point average greater than a 3.15 included Nebraska Beta, North Dakota Alpha, Nebraska Delta, Wisconsin Beta, and Iowa Delta.

Iowa Theta, Iowa Delta, Nebraska Beta, Wisconsin Theta, and North Dakota Alpha were also recognized for being number one on their campus in grades.

The Frank J. Ruck Leadership award was given to James Holstein of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The Zollinger Outstanding Senior Award was awarded to Brian Burke from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Chapter counselor David Haug, of the University of Wisconsin was also recognized with an award for distinguished service as an alumnus.

All awards have their value and recognition, but none provide more opportunity to the recipient than does the Tragos Quest to Greece Award. This award allows for around 15 sophomores and juniors to spend one week in Greece studying the ritual in Delphi and studying the culture and history of Greece in the same place where Socrates taught. The award is made possible through the donations of Bill and Lilli Tragos.

This year's Tragos Quest to Greece recipient was Brother Matt Bruce of the University of Chicago. "I would be lying if I didn't say I was amazingly nervous," Brother Bruce said when asked how he felt during the awards dinner.

"It's very exciting. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to explore Greece with a group of extraordinary undergraduates, and learn from the alumni who guide the journey," Bruce said.

--
Kevin W. Teets Jr.
Sigma Phi Epsilon Resident Scholar
Drake University Law Student

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Thanks to Brother Teets for his comprehensive report.

FSU issue - opinion on Community Colleges

One of the factoids that came out of the recent hazing arrests at the FSU SigEp Chapter is that two of the arrestees are not FSU students but attend a nearby community college. The obvious first question is "what's up with that?"

I have been associated with Sig Ep for quite a while and the chapters I know about only recruit men from the college where they are chartered.

I came across this thread at "greekchat.com" where the incident is being discussed - and in a refreshingly serious way. The question of community college pledging came up there as well. This is a good example of the conversation:

I'm at Florida State. The Community College is less than a mile away with 15,000-20,000 students many of whom are marking time until they can get into FSU (40,000). Pledging TCC students is controversial here. They are allowed to join the FSU marching band, but Greek Life absolutely forbids them joining fraternities or sororities and punishes groups when they do. IFC chapters are split on the issue; some Nationals would permit it and some would not. I'm told that many of the fraternities do pledge TCC students and simply don't report them until they enter FSU. Now, I'm certain that having TCC students as brothers will be among the charges leveled at Sigma Phi Epsilon.

We've been hit hard by the hazing issue here. Two men from FAMU (less than a mile in the other direction) were just sentenced to two year in prison for beating their KAPsi pledges with canes. At FSU, we lost SAE to hazing. I'm told ATO may also be in trouble for hazing, and now Sig Ep is really in big trouble. Both ATO and Sig Ep are preparing to break ground for new $4 million houses!

Last year Florida passed legislation making hazing a felony.

Maybe it will calm down.

We certainly hazed when I was an undergraduate, but now the threshhold of what's permitted seems to have been drastically lowered. Plus, you have to be an idiot to take guys out of the house and do what the SPEs did in a residential neighborhood.

A search of the Grand Chapter Bylaws, recent legislation, the NBD minutes that have been published, and other documents relating to membership shows no mention one way or another about community colleges.(The documents can be found in the "Members Area" of the HQ web site.) It seems to this writer that there is a gap in accountability and risk management here. A chapter is chartered to an individual school, not to a region or community. Having members who are form different schools with different standards would seem to invite miscommunication at best and chaos at worst. Further, as we have seen this week the two schools are treating the incident differently.

"We're concerned about the safety and well-being of our students," said Courtney Barry, assistant dean of students and director of Greek Life at FSU. "We are currently cooperating with the university police department."

Barry said the fraternity has been suspended by the university's Office of Student Rights and Responsibility. The university will review police reports to determine possible disciplinary for Johnson and Vincent.

Alice Maxwell, spokeswoman for Tallahassee Community College, said there's no disciplinary action (emphasis added) issued for Fernandez and Finazzo as of now.

The next Conclave needs to definitively state a policy on members belonging to the institution where the charter resides. This will probably generate some controversy. If membership is restricted then chapters that practice the "open model" will complain that they are being deprived of a source of new members, and perhaps that "all the others do it" too. If such memberships are allowed then the argument will be made that we are looking at membership and revenue before quality, since there is no assurance that a community college student will automatically transfer to a Chapters school on completion of his curriculum.

Nonetheless, there is a need to define the policy. This writer feels that a "One chapter, One school" policy is in the best interests of the Fraternity as a whole.

Let us know what YOU think about it.

New Fraternity Announces Leadership - News

Another notice of the Emory SEC.

Media Credit: Chris Megerian Rishi Chhatwal, the first president of Sigma Phi Epsilon at Emory, is seeking to establish the fraternity at the University and apply for a charter in the fall.

Emory, meet Sig Ep.

The newly established Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity colony introduced itself to administrators and students at events in Cox Hall and the Dobbs University Center Tuesday night.

Now Sig Ep, led by President Rishi Chhatwal, is trying to make its presence known on campus. To establish itself at Emory, the fraternity will need to nearly double in size and carve out a niche for itself as a different type of fraternity within a more traditional Greek system.
[...]
Sig Ep Director of New Chapter Development Greg Barra thanked administrators and students for their support in a short speech in Cox Hall.

"I really believe that a rising tide benefits all ships," he said.

Interfraternity Council President Navin Varindani said Sig Ep's primary challenge will be recruitment, especially because every other fraternity has experienced formal recruitment. He said Sig Ep's pledge to be a different type of fraternity could work for or against them when recruitment begins in the spring.

"It will be interesting to see how they use that to their advantage," he said.

The Sig Ep fraternity centers on the Balanced Man Program, which involves mentoring, athletics and academic rigor. In addition, the fraternity does not use a standard pledging process.
[...]
Regional Director Aaron Dail said Chhatwal, who was chosen by fraternity representatives, displayed good leadership capability in interviews.

Dail said the local alumni board will remain involved with the fraternity to ensure "what we're selling matches up to what we're providing."

Lots of 'good ink' there. The guys at Emory should do well. They have set an ambitious goal of applying for a permanent charter this fall. Go for it! we are behind you all the way. Greek Life: New Fraternity Announces Leadership - News

Technorati tags: SigEp, Emory, college, Fraternity

Emory IFC Elects New Leaders

The Greeks at Emory have elected new leaders for 2007-08. The leaders have good things to say about our SEC chapter there

The incoming IFC vice president of recruitment, College junior George Toth, said Greeks should play a greater role in non-Greek events in order to boost their visibility on campus.
He hopes the addition of two new fraternities - Sigma Phi Epsilon and Pi Kappa Phi - will increase recruitment numbers, which have declined in recent years.
[...]
Stein, IFC's current executive vice president, said he was also excited about the addition of Sig Ep to campus.
"I love what they're doing," he said. "It's going to be beneficial to all of us."
[Eric]Stein [incoming IFC president] said he wants to emphasize philanthropy and brotherhood within Greek life. For better or for worse, partying is used as a hook to introduce students to greater fraternity ideals, he said.
"When you go through the process, you learn what it's really about," Stein said.

Greek Life: Greeks Elect ISC, IFC Leaders for 2007-08 Session - News

Technorati tags: SigEp, Emory, College, Fraternity

Sig Ep Launches New Chapter at Emory

Building a Fraternity From the Ground Up
By: Chris Megerian

When Sigma Phi Epsilon representatives want to find the right men for a new chapter of their fraternity, they ask the people who know best - sorority women.

So, on Tuesday, Sig Ep Regional Director Aaron Dail, who is helping start an Emory colony, dropped to one knee and presented a bouquet of red roses to Gamma Phi Beta sorority President Andrea Heflin at a chapter meeting in front of all her sisters. National Expansion Director Jason Cherish then outlined the type of students that Sig Ep hopes to attract: intelligent, polite, balanced and civic-minded men.

Afterward, one girl asked incredulously, "Do you know any men like this?"

"We believe men like this exist here at Emory," Cherish replied.

The girls in the room broke out laughing, but Cherish wasn't kidding. Sig Ep hopes to create a different type of fraternity than currently exists at Emory - and fast. National representatives will leave campus in less than a month, at which point they need to have gathered 20 to 40 men who meet the fraternity's standards.

Emory administrators have high hopes for Sig Ep. The Division of Campus Life and the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life expect the new fraternity to refocus attention in Greek life on scholarship, service and brotherhood.

"It's sort of returning back to the original purpose of fraternities," Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Victor Felts said. "Many fraternities have gotten away from promoting those aspects."

Breaking the 'Fraternity Stereotype
'The primary difference between Sig Ep and other fraternities is its approach to recruitment: Sig Ep doesn't have any pledging process. Instead, students join at any time and become full members once they accept their bids.

Recruits then participate in the four-year "Balanced Man Program," which involves mentoring, athletics and academic rigor. Members complete a list of "challenges" designed to enrich their minds and bodies.

"We're just totally designed differently than other fraternities," Cherish said. "The main reason we're here is to do something different."

Director of New Chapter Development Greg Barra said the program acts as a "self-filter," ensuring that the fraternity doesn't recruit students interested in perpetuating "a fraternity stereotype."

"We're not here to be sticks in the mud, but we're here to guide freshmen to a better college experience than they might have had," Barra said.

Sig Ep, the largest fraternity in the country with about 13,000 undergraduate members in about 300 chapters, is the first of two new fraternities coming to Emory within the next year. Pi Kappa Phi is expected to start the colonization process in fall 2007.

Pi Kappa Phi was chosen for the same reasons as Sig Ep, and is recognized as the only fraternity in America to create and maintain its own philanthropy.

Riordan said one of Sig Ep's major challenges would be creating enough buzz on campus to be considered "cool" and to compete with more established fraternities for members.But Sig Ep representatives said they will pull members from a pool of people not interested in joining other fraternities at Emory.

In the end, their success hinges on those students choosing to switch their allegiance from non-Greek to Sig Ep.- Contact Chris Megerian at cmegeri@learnlink.emory.edu

Letter to Parents of a prospective member

Now that Rush (ahem, I mean RECRUITMENT) season is in full swing, some of the prospective members may need help persuading their parents that joining a fraternity is actually a positive thing.

This letter was written by Chuck Eberly (an Order of the Golden Heart recipient) to parents of a young man who is considering joining. It is longer than is reasonable to post in its entirety so I have put it on a server for download in MS-Word format.

Here are a few excerpts where Chuck explains the positive side of fraternity life.

[...]In the more than thirty semesters since the chapter's founding, Sig Ep (the nickname) has been above the All Men's Average nearly 80 percent of those semesters, while the next highest chapter has been above the All Men's Average slightly under 30 percent of the time. Young men need an atmosphere where the expectation for academic performance is strong. If they find that atmosphere, their own performance meets the expectations of the group.
[...]
Of course, a college fraternity experience includes more than an atmosphere that supports classroom performance. [...] Young men are easily attracted to the perceived benefits and privileges of membership, but they seldom realize that benefits and privileges are attached to performance expectations and obligations. Among the topics covered [in an orientation discussion] are scholarship, personal and group behavior, responsibilities to self and chapter as a member, relationships with the opposite sex ..., the use and abuse of alcohol and other substances, how to study and take examinations, campus resources, and the initial explanation of Sigma Phi Epsilon's Balanced Man Program.

[...M]en who join Illinois Nu are a full member (sic) the moment they join the fraternity. They attend all chapter meetings, and should they choose, they are eligible to become officers of the chapter within a semester of their joining the group. The "horizontal" membership structure helps to markedly lower the incidence of misbehavior, whether the behavior be something akin to hazing, personal servitude, or other activities.

A very positive and thoughtful explanation of what it REALLY means to join a serious college fraternity.

Chapters are encouraged to download and modify the letter to fit your own needs and circumstances. The HQ site also has a "Parents" section with more information.

Technorati tags: SigEp, college, fraternity, parents