More than 30 members of the University Sigma Pi colony have spent the past year getting their name out on campus, organizing community service activities and preparing for this May, when they will officially be the first chartered fraternity at the University in 10 years.
Sigma Pi, which has existed at Oregon State University since 1924, has never been chartered on this campus.
“How many chances do you get to say you’ve started a fraternity?” said Christopher Diamond, a sophomore and the recruitment chair for Sigma Pi. “There’s a bunch of pressure to make sure we do this. Once we do charter, we have to make sure we keep it up and remain strong.”
Last spring, a group of nine students decided to create a fraternity that represented something different from what they found on campus. University sophomore Nick Wiley, vice president of the colony, was searching for something more.
“I had done some research on the fraternity scene since I was a freshman,” Wiley said. “I got to see how the fraternities worked; how the brothers interacted with each other.”
Wiley said most of what he saw within the existing fraternities didn’t offer the leadership opportunities and internal respect between the brothers that he wanted. Because of this, the members of Sigma Pi are working to make their fraternity stand out with higher grade point averages, more community service responsibilities and a larger membership quota.
While Wiley said there are two other colonies on campus and a third dismantled in the fall, he and the other founders are working quickly and efficiently to make sure the fraternity gets off the ground.
“The reason why the colonies don’t last is it takes so long to develop, usually two to four years on this campus,” Wiley said.
Currently at 34 members, with at least eight spots yet to be filled, the group has created executive seats and is finalizing the details on a house on 18th and Onyx, something University sophomore and Sigma Pi president Sam Kratz said is difficult to receive at colony status.
The group has also completed a couple community service activities.
Two weeks ago, the group participated in National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week by showing a documentary on Sam Spady, a 19-year-old Colorado State University student who died from alcohol poisoning at a fraternity in September 2004.
“Alcohol poisoning is such a big thing, especially in college,” said Kratz. “We know people are going to drink in college but we want to make people aware not to drink too much.”
On March 3 the prospective fraternity worked with Alpha Chi Omega sorority picking up trash and removing ivy from Pioneer Cemetery.
“It’s part of our campus we walk through every day and people throw their garbage and beer cans in it,” Wiley said.
The brothers have also been working with the Sigma Pi director of expansion at the national level, finalizing the internal structure of the fraternity.
“We are not trying to regain our charter. We are building this from scratch,” Wiley said, emphasizing the amount of work going into the construction of the fraternity.
The group of students will find out if their hard work has paid off in the end of April, although they have already set a charter date for May 12, when they will hold a formal banquet.
“Since we’ve come so far there is a very slim chance this will fall through,” said Diamond, who has been attempting to get name recognition for the fraternity by meeting interested students near the crosswalk by the Hamilton Complex on campus.
“One thing I’ve really been trying to do is push our name out there,” he said. “No one’s really heard about us, (and) something difficult is that we don’t have a central location.”
Diamond said the brothers hold their meetings on campus and gather with new members at each other’s houses, where they can talk and get to know each other better.
“The whole time we’ve been going through this, we already had what a fraternity needs,” Wiley said, who described the brothers as a unique mix of students who will leave a strong legacy as founding fathers.
Kratz said he is looking for students who care about their studies and about bettering their community. Those interested in joining Sigma Pi can e-mail Diamond at [email protected]
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