Sigma Sigma Sigma and Phi Beta Sigma
Sigmas hold title of 1st sorority at Murray State
Frisbee tournament raises money for kids
By: Janet Robb
Issue date: 3/10/06 Section: Lifestyles
The Murray State News
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Thanks to Sigma Sigma Sigma, children can learn about their illnesses and how to cope with it through play therapy.
"(In) play therapy ... they use dolls to show the kids what is wrong with them," said Brittaney Hall, Sigma co-public relations and co-music chair. "It also creates a more normal environment for them."
Hall, senior from Powell, Ohio, said the Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation funds play therapy for the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, and the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C.
"That's the only way they are funded," Hall said. "Through Sigma chapters."
Nancy Parrish, Sigma president, said the foundation originally put the funds toward polio research after Robbie Page, son of a former national president, died from polio.
"Once a vaccine was found, they kept the funds and decided to support children in general," said Parrish, senior from Medina, Tenn. "So our motto is 'Sigma serves children.'"
Founded April 20, 1898, at Longwood College in Farmville, Va., the sorority became known as part of the Farmville Four because four different sororities began there. In 1942, Sigma took the honor as the first Panhellenic sorority at the Murray State.
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Phi Beta Sigma provides fitness, tutoring services for students
By: Audrey Ferguson
Issue date: 3/10/06 Section: Lifestyles
The Murray State News
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As Phi Beta Sigma members work to serve the campus and the community, they are building on a long-standing legacy.
Phi Beta Sigma was founded Jan. 9, 1914, after the founders didn't like what was available in other Greek organizations.
According to pbs1914.org, the founders "wanted their fraternity to exist as part of even a greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the 'inclusive we' rather than the 'exclusive we.'"
Also, they believed family background should not affect membership. It should be judged upon merit without consideration to race or nationality. They wanted to form an organization that would focus on being part of the community, instead of being apart from the community.
According to the Phi Beta Sigma Web site, the national fraternity played a role in the passing of anti-lynching laws, abolishing of Jim Crow laws and outlawing discrimination in the work force.
In 1995, the national fraternity supported and sponsored the Million Man March in Washington. The march called for unity among African-Americans.
"We were the first (black fraternity) to be (incorporated) in Washington D.C.," said Demetrick Westbrook, Murray State's Phi Beta Sigma chapter president .
Westbrook, senior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said the fraternity began at Murray State in 1982. However, the fraternity became inactive in 1991.
"It was rechartered in 1998 by Kevin Ragland and Les Graves," Westbrook said. "It went from basically those guys to over 32 guys that we have had go through the fraternity. We have had a rich history on this campus."
The fraternity's motto, "Culture for service, service for humanity," displays its services. Sigma's Fight Against AIDS, Sleepout for the Homeless, and the Sigma Fit Club are a few of the fraternity's local projects.