GreekChat.com Forums - sigma chi at sdsu

Not sure what the deal is with Sigma Chi, but there is this following article in their student paper today about KSig, which is actually GOOD news:

If only LXA would recolonize there as well...

Kappa Sigma fraternity regains university status

By Melissa Clary
Staff Writer

They're back.

Kappa Sigma returns to the San Diego State campus after a year of demonstrating the fraternity's ideals and participating in a list of community events and charitable service.

Twenty-eight Kappa Sigma members will re-colonize this spring after the Interfraternity Council suspended the group and the university withdrew recognition of the chapter in January 2002.

According to University Police, the month the chapter was suspended, about 20 Kappa Sigma pledges - most under the age of 21 - were found in in Parking Structure III across from the fraternity's house with 22 12-packs of beer and 11 bottles of hard alcohol. The alcohol was believed to be intended for use at a pre-initiation party, police said.

Doug Case, coordinator for the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said this act violated multiple alcohol and hazing policies of the university and the fraternity.

"Because it was the second violation within five years, the chapter was immediately placed on suspension by the international fraternity and summoned to appear before the international board in March 2002 for a 'show cause' hearing," Case said.

The fraternity's international board chose to withdraw the charter and not permit a recolonization for a period of two years, Case said.

In January 2003, the fraternity's international board held its quarterly meeting in San Diego and voted 5-0 to authorize recolonization this semester.

"The colony will still have to meet the international fraternity's rigorous chartering standards to regain their charter," Case said.

Mitchell Wilson, Kappa Sigma executive director, contacted the university in a letter requesting permission to recolonize this spring, stating: "It is our belief that the students and alumni are fully committed to establishing a positive fraternity experience which will be built on Kappa Sigma's four principles of fellowship, leadership, scholarship and service."

James Kitchen, vice president for Student Affairs, and Lori White, associate vice president and dean of students, reviewed the request from the fraternity and a recommendation by the Interfraternity Council. After expressing reservations about having a recolonization involving initiates from the former chapter, the university granted the fraternity permission to colonize, effective March 18 - with stipulations.

Stipulations include a membership review of colony members' behaviors; members of the former colony who will not be a part of the new colony cannot associate with the colony; until the charter is reinstalled, all colony activities shall be alcohol-free; the colony must adhere to policies comparable to residence halls concerning the presence of alcohol at chapter facilities; all colony members must become certified in the "TIPS for the University" alcohol intervention campaign.

"The suspension of Kappa Sigma from the IFC at San Diego State has forced us to re-evaluate our activities and offered us a chance for a real positive change," Kappa Sigma co-philanthropy and public relations chair Matt Smith said.

The fraternity has kept its members together and remained a tight unit despite its suspension from campus, he said. Smith also mentioned that past SDSU fraternities have been kicked off campus and were not able to pull together to return to the university.

"Aside from being brothers, we're all best friends," Smith said. "We all hung out together even after the suspension."

The chapter's grade-point average is 2.68, putting the chapter in seventh place with the campus greek system, Smith said. That's higher than the 2.33 GPA and fourteenth place the fraternity held at the time of suspension.

Kappa Sigma's dedication to community service and conducting anti-hazing seminars played a part in the fraternity's return to campus. Smith said the amount of service the colony performed this past year is greater than any year prior to the suspension.

Colony members participated in local beach cleanups sponsored by the San Diego Surfrider's Association. Members also volunteered their time to support KPBS radio station by staffing its phone bank during a pledge drive in October 2002. They supported San Diego City Council candidate Kevin Falconer's fall election campaign by distributing fliers door-to-door, posting signs and making phone calls to campaign supporters.

A large source of the colony's efforts went to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's annual walk in Carlsbad.

"(Kappa Sigma's) local alumni are hard-working men who hold a lot of pride in their fraternity," Mathew Humphrey, vice president of Kappa Alpha Order and IFC assistant of recruitment, said. "I am proud to see the hard work has paid off for them and am glad that they will be our neighbors in the years to come here on Fraternity Row."

Local alumni are investing roughly $700,000 in the new chapter house on Fraternity Row and will be ensuring the chapter adheres to fraternity and university guidelines. The group plans to move into its new house this July when the current lease with Alpha Epsilon Pi expires.

"Parents are real proud of the guys for turning things around to get back on campus," Kappa Sigma vice president Marcell Zamora said.

Kappa Sigma President Blake Brotherson said future greeks should consider pledging to Kappa Sigma because they will have the chance to say they were a part of bringing a fraternity back to the campus.

Brotherson said negative acts, like those in the past, will not be tolerated and the fraternity will work to make sure it is successful.

The fraternity was founded at SDSU as a local fraternity in 1922 and was chartered as a Kappa Sigma chapter in 1947. Until the charter revocation in March 2002, it was the oldest continuously recognized fraternity at the university, according to Case.