The Sigma Nu fraternity house, located on 11th Avenue, now stands silent. The University’s first fraternity lost its affiliation in December 2002 because members missed the signing deadline of a contract regardin
The exterior of Sigma Nu’s house on 11th Avenue seems to personify the legacy of fraternities on the University campus. The facade features six white columns, red brick and a wide sweeping porch; on the inside the halls are quiet, the rooms vacant. The building stands empty, silently marking the end of a 104-year legacy of the fraternity on campus.
The organization, which was the first Greek organization in Oregon, succumbed to
financial troubles and closed its doors at the beginning of this school year after an eight-month struggle to become reaffiliated with the University.
“It’s hard to walk by and see nobody’s living inside,” former chapter President Andy Newsom said.
The chapter lost its affiliation with the
University on Dec. 15, 2002, when the University implemented its new endorsement program. The program required, among other things, that houses sign a contract to be substance-free.
“The expectations we have for them are the same expectations that their own national organization expects,” Greek Life Coordinator Shelley Sutherland said.
But University graduate Spencer Miles, who was the chapter president at the time, said the Sigma Nu national organization took issue with the contract’s wording, which would have placed much of the legal responsibility on the chapter president and the executive board. The national chapter was in the process of negotiating the provisions of the contract when the deadline for the contract passed, Miles said.
“They couldn’t come to a consensus before we had to sign to go dry,” Miles said. “It was out of (the students’) hands.”
A few months later, Sigma Nu hosted a party that was broken up by the Eugene Police Department. The police issued four minor in possession citations, and Miles received a
citation for an unlabeled keg and for furnishing alcohol to minors.
Shortly afterwards, the national chapter intervened and “reorganized” the local chapter, meaning that half of the members were made into “matriculated alumni.” The fraternity lost half of its members, including many of the older, more experienced members.
In winter term of 2004, Newsom said he began the process of getting the chapter reaffiliated with the University. He added that the national chapter was threatening to revoke the fraternity’s charter if it didn’t start moving toward reaffiliation. Newsom, who had no experience with the Greek Life Office, said he appealed to Sutherland to start the reaffiliation process.
As per Sutherland’s request, Newsom put together a chapter governance folder, a 200-page document outlining the chapter’s procedures, bylaws, community service and philanthropic activities.
“We did all the things a normal fraternity does,” he said.
However, Sutherland affirmed they
hadn’t fulfilled all the requirements to become reaffiliated.
Newsom said he didn’t think Sutherland provided him with the proper guidance to become reaffiliated. He said Sutherland had not even reviewed the document when he contacted her at the end of the summer.
Miles said relations between Sigma Nu and the Greek Life Office had been strained since Sigma Nu became lost its affiliation.
“They didn’t like that we were questioning the dry policy,” he said.
Newsom concurred.
“I think (Sigma Nu) got singled out and … vilified,” he said.
However, Newsom admitted that he told Sutherland that Sigma Nu was substance-free, when in fact it was not.
“I can’t defend us because the fact is we were breaking the rules,” he said.
Newsom added, however, that fraternity members were planning to make the house substance-free this year and would have continued its process toward reaffiliation if it weren’t for the fraternity’s financial trouble.
In mid-September of this year, Sigma
Nu’s alumni board voted to raise the rent from $750 to $900, which would help pay
off the debts incurred from renovations done three years ago, pay for the mortgage and pay for a $40,000 sprinkler system that the
University required the fraternity
to install.
“The membership would have been willing to shoulder a financial burden if it was the only problem,” Newsom said. In the end, the
fraternity’s lost affiliation with the University compounded the financial problem, and the house was shut down.
As for re-establishing the house, Newsom said most members became disheartened after the long
effort to become reaffiliated.
“All of the members in my class that have gone through this ordeal pretty much washed their hands of everything,” he said.
