New Ground for Phi Sigma Kappa
 

Brothers,

Yesterday I spoke to our Executive Director, Mike Carey (Clarion '92), about the status of our chapter. I don't know how much was released on a national level about our situation. Long-story-short last semester Clarion decided to remove our University recognition over something that they have no jurisdiction over, if you'd like to know the entire story just email or pm me. After much discussion and thought the Grand Council has decided to keep us open with National Recognition and not School Recognition. This is maybe the second time Phi Sigma Kappa has ever decided to continue a chapter with no school recognition, so we are entering uncharted waters as far as our fraternity goes. I just wanted to post an update in case anyone had heard about our situation. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the situation feel free to contact me.

Fraternally,

Just to post an update so everyone can read what happend and what the Grand Council has decided on doing I figured I would just post on here as a reply to this thread:

Well some of the things that you need to understand before giving you the actual facts of the case are about Pennsylvania culture, how our "house" is legally viewed, and that this is a state run institution of higher education. In Pennsylvania gun ownership for hunting and sport shooting is very big and a highly regarded part of the suburban and rural cultures. Secondly the "house" we occupy is off campus and not even inside the borough the school is located in. On top of that it is legally broken up into seperate apartments with lockable ajoining doors. There are a one man, a two man, a three man, and a nine man apartment. Each person signs a seperate lease with our landlord, who is in no way affiliated with Phi Sigma Kappa or the school. Each room in the nine man apartment is actually considered by PA state law to be a seperate apartment. There are no chapter, alumni, or national funds used to secure the house, each brother is responsible for his own rent.

Now for the actual events. On the night of October 19th there was a home invasion and shooting across the street from our "house". Some of our brothers are friends with the guys living there and one of those involved came over for help. The three brothers, all had permits to carry, had their guns locked in their rooms in lock boxes, walked across the street with guns concealed and unloaded to help their friend make sure no one was in the apartment. A short time later the State Police arrived and came over to interview the brothers. The police inspected the guns to make sure they were not used, and were satisfied. They then took down statements from the brothers and told us to have a good night and they would have done the same thing for a friend. While the police were at the "house" university officials showed up to "assist" in the investigation at our house, they more or less just sat around trying to get information off the police.

On October 21st our chapter president recieved a call requesting all brothers who live in the "house" to attend a meeting in one of the administration buildings. When we arrived they seperated us and told us not to talk. What then took place was a keystone kops meets people with dellusions of being FBI agents. Members of the administration interigated us with out ever notifying us of any rights we have. We then recieved letters stating that the chapter was being brought up on University Judicial Board charges for having guns in our "house", under FIPG. At our hearing we aregued, with national support, that our "house" is not a house but an apartment complex that it just so happens only brothers rent. We also argued that Clarion can not ajudicate policy that is not their's. Another point we made was the ineptitude of the Greek Life Advisor as far as educating greeks on policy. We lost our case, not a bog surprise b/c the university doesn't like us or greek life in general. With the help of Mike Carey we filed 32 points of appeal, and recieved a 1.5 page letter telling us it was turned down.

After that we had to wait for the Grand Council's decision. We finally found that out in early March. Along with the decision, the Grand Council, through the Grand President, sent a four page letter to Clarion explaining that they were keeping us open and why. Adding that we know our legal rights and not to push too hard. This letter was sent to the National HQ of all NIC fraternities, NPC sororities, and NPHC fraternities and sororities on our campus. We can still operate as long as we do not hold chapter events on campus and do not participate in events sponsored directly by IFC Panhel or Greek Life that are restricted to greeks. Which doesn't bother us. We have good relationships with most of the fraternities and sororities and continue to hang out with them. This just means we don't have to worry about float, greek week, or IFC dues. Plus we only have to operate by national rules.

Hope this helps.

Sounds stressful, but it appears to have had a satisfactory conclusion.

Way to go in standing up for your rights, Phi Sigma Kappas!

YAY GUYS!
 

Mike and I had been talking about this - I'm so glad that you guys will continue to be part of Clarion, even if the school is being stupid right now. I'm also glad that you set an example by being aboveboard about your intentions to continue operating without school recognition (unlike other groups who TooK libErties and pretended to be closed).

PHI SIGS ONCE, PHI SIGS TWICE...

Well Clarion hasn't done or said anything to us yet, but, we're keeping out fingers crossed. Next year could be a different story. I do have to say that this has helped us out in our relations with other GLOs, atleast the fraternities. Some of the sororities won't have anything to do with us, but, they didn't do anything with us before any of this happened so we weren't expecting much.

I still <3 PSK :)

Apologize for dropping in, but you should send your story to the NRA. This is more than a fraternity issue, this is a 2nd amendment issue that the university is infringing on! The NRA would probably love to take on your case and sue the university for free on your behalf.

Damn. Good. Idea. :)

We've decided that we don't want to provoke the University. We're going to continue with our operations off-campus and let them make the first move. Our Grand Council along with the chapter believe that it is better to let the University to act first, that way it's stronger for us, they'll look like an even bigger aggressor. But if they push it we will contact the ACLU, TheFire.org, NIC, and the other national GLO's on our campus. We've kinda dropped the whole gun issue b/c it was felt that nothing could be advanced on this route. It was more the guns were the excuse to kick us off, they've been trying to nail us for a few years now. We think that if they try to come after us it will be about taking students and continuing operations, which is a first amendment issue, as our legal council told us.

For what?

Anything. Clarion has made it more than clear in the past 7 or so years that they want to get rid of greek life. They look for any little thing any try to make a case out of it. Just this past semester DPhiE got in trouble on hear-say, and then when the girl who filed the complaint admitted she was put up to it by another sorority and that it wasn't true, the board still found them in violation and said they couldn't take any new members in the fall, which is unconstitutional for clarion to do, only PanHel, NPC, or their National can do that. Clarion has been persecuting fraternities for 7 years. They bring every fraternity up on something just to see if it'll stick and it occationally does.

The problem with that D Phi E thing is Bloomsburg has done something similar (i.e. not let groups take pledges) and gotten away with it, because no one was smart enough to fight it. So if they can do it Clarion can too.

What board was this? That conduct board that has no one Greek on it?

Sounds like a class-action suit, if you ask me.

Is Calrion private? I know privates can set rules and regs as they see fit pretty easily....

No. Clarion is similar to UW-M (former state teachers' college).

It was the University Judicial/Conduct Board. The one where you're luck if you have a Greek on it, and if you do, they're usually either honorary/service(which don't have the best relations with socials) or they're in the universities pocket.

I was a member of PSK at Clarion beginning Fall 1976. Though I've lost touch with most everyone I went to school with, I'm curious as to what is going on with the situation between the Administration and the Chapter? Is the 'non recognition' for a specified time?
It was sad for me to see that most of the fraternities that were active on campus during my days are no longer around. Groups like Theta Xi, Theta Chi, Sigma Chi look to be no more. From what I know, the University no longer allows 'local' fraternities, they must be affiliated with a National organization. Although never perfect, Greek Life can be a great addition to a students life at college.
Keep me informed if possible.
TMH

No idea what's up with Clarion! I hadn't heard anything about the non-recognition. I do know they tend to be a strong chapter.

I'd give HQ a call and talk to Nick Waldo or Michael Carey. 317/573-5420

Nick is member services director, and Michael is the executive director.

YAY Clarion people older than me on GC!!

I was an ASA at Clarion in the late 80s. If you want to PM me, I can update you on some of the guys you mentioned.

Did you join the yahoogroup they mentioned in the alumni bulletin?

As far as what's going on w/ Nu Pentaton, from what PSK480 told me when I saw him, they are getting better numbers than any of the recognized fraternities. If that keeps up, I think the admin will basically have to re-recognize them.

As of right now the University is looking to have Sigma Phi Epsilon recolonize in the Fall of 2007 and Sigma Nu start colonization efforts the next spring or fall. I'd like to see what Sig Ep and Sigma Nu think of the Greek Plan. I can't imagine any (inter)national fraternity being thrilled about it.

We're doing well even with other orgs looking to expand. We've left the university alone and they seem to be doing the same to us. We have 18 actives right now and are looking at getting 3 in either by the end of this semester or right at the beginning of next. Even if we keep getting better numbers and good press I don't know how willing the administration would be to re-recognizing us. It's possible, but, I know I won't be in Clarion to see it. I have to be graduated or gone before they even think about it.

If any of the Sig Ep alumni from Clarion assist in this effort, please let me know, because I will want to take a picture of the pig flying overhead. :)

Is the Greek Plan online anywhere? The site for the Call hasn't been updated in years.

I'm kept in the dark and fed $hit like a mushroom as much as the University can. I do get information from back channels when I can, so I have no clue if any Sig Ep alumni are assisting.

I don't believe the Greek Plan is anywhere online. They IFC/Panhel pages haven't been updated in a while. The only copy I have is a year and a half old now. I've been trying to get my hands on a new updated copy for a while. I'll have to do some hounding, but if I can get a copy I'll send it to anyone who wants it. You'd think that as a branch of state government they should make all policies public and available to the public through the Freedom of Information act. Hell, I can find out how much each professor makes thanks to the FOA.

This is a little late, but I just wanted to report that Nu Pentaton was out in full force at Clarion's recent homecoming, much more so than any of the recognized fraternities from what I saw, and they had really cool shirts (that unfortunately, us of the female persuasion weren't allowed to buy as they had letters on them).

You guys rock and I'm proud to call many of you my "brothers in law." :)

Even though we keep our noses clean and do plenty of community service the university just seems to keep gunning for us. We're still recognized by the national fraternity, yet, KDR lost both campus and fraternity recognition continue to operate underground and the university isn't doing anything about it. I long ago stopped trying to figure out how the university's policies and actions make sense.

I found it interesting that in the most recent Clarion University Alumni Newsletter, there was a big block story about Wesley Semple, the founder of PSK at CU, had been named to fill a vacancy on the Grand Council of National. Quoting from the article: "Semple was the founding brother of Phi Sigma Kappa's Nu Pentaton chapter, which has had a presence at Clarion since 1964." That sounds to me like the university, in some respects, still considers PSK 'active'.

At the time, it still was open and so they kind of had to say that. For the record, the chapter at Clarion was closed this past winter under much duress.

You can email PSK HQ or Mike C. about it as I don't want to put it all out here, that is for one of the brothers to do if they see fit. I will go on record as saying that the way they handled themselves in this situation is something for ALL fraternity men to be proud of. Then again, that is not all surprising given the history of the caliber of men in this chapter.