'Nu' fraternity on campus

By Jimmy Cusack
cusack@mscd.edu

A new fraternity on campus is looking for a few good men.

Sigma Nu is a fraternity that is against hazing and has a no alcohol policy. The core beliefs of Sigma Nu are love, honor and truth-not beer, bongs and togas, which is currently the typical view of other fraternities.

Sigma Nu is based out of Lexington, Va. and has had 220,000 members in 182 active chapters since its founding in 1869.

Gretta Mincer, assistant director of Metro student activities, said over the past few years students have been asking why there is a sorority on campus (Sigma Sigma Sigma), but no fraternities. A committee was established in the summer of 2004 to look into bringing fraternities to Metro.

Christopher L. Healy, Sigma Nu expansion and recruiting consultant, has just completed the initial recruitment process. Healy has been on campus for the past two weeks telling the men at Metro about Sigma Nu and looking for men to whom they would like to offer bids. Sigma Nu has extended bids to join the fraternity to 15 students, who range in age from 18 to 31. They eventually would like to have between 25 and 50 members.

Membership does come with a cost. National dues include a one-time candidate fee of $80, a one-time initiation fee of $190 and $130 per semester to Sigma Nu's national office. Local dues are to be decided by the chapter's members when they write their constitution and bylaws.

Miner said the college has told fraternities that Metro is not interested in housing for fraternities in the immediate future.

Healy said the chapter may pursue housing options in the coming years.

Healy said Sigma Nu is looking for men at Metro to help build a rock chapter, the highest standard of excellence for a fraternity. "We are looking for outstanding individuals who are well rounded in all areas to continually develop as a man and in the organization," Healy said.

Interested students met with Healy and went through an interview process. If Healy felt the students were Sigma Nu material a bid was then offered to them.

In the past, fraternities have received a bad reputation, often for binge drinking and dangerous hazing practices. This is something Sigma Nu does not believe to be acceptable, Healy said.

"Sigma Nu was founded in firm opposition to hazing. Our core values are love, honor and truth," Healy said.

Alcohol use is prohibited on campus and by any Metro student organization, a college policy that was affirmed when Metro President Stephen Jordan this semester approved an official functions policy.

Metro sophomore and Sigma Nu member John Berry said the fraternity is planning on holding alcohol-free social events on campus and at athletic events. They also plan on doing community service projects, like clothing and food drives.

"The first reason that I joined was because of the brotherhood you can get out of meeting new people and to see what you can get out of that as friends," Berry said. "I have already gotten good friendships out of it with 15 guys; we have a lot of commonalties."

Jesse Samora, who is also speaker of the senate for Metro's Student Government Assembly, was elected president of Metro's new fraternity Nov. 6.

"Everyone that I have talked to is interested in joining," Samora said. "I think that this will be the first of many fraternities on campus.

Sigma Nu will not actually be the first fraternity on campus. Metro is host to Sigma Lambda Beta, a Latino fraternity, and Alpha Eta Rho, an aviation fraternity. There are also two sororities on campus.