The lights are on, the upstairs windows are open, and there’s mail waiting on living room tables, but nobody’s home at Sigma Chi this fall.
In mid-August Sigma Chi’s charter was suspended by its international organization, Sigma Chi Corporation, ending the existence of the fraternity on campus for several years.
Sigma Chi’s executive committee, which oversees all Sigma Chi chapters, voted unanimously to suspend the NU charter because of “alcohol violations, conduct unbecoming of a Sigma Chi and probation violations,” according to an Aug. 30 fraternity press release.
The major factor behind the vote was that “the chapter was aware of the fact that it was on probation,” Sigma Chi Corp. President Mark Anderson said Monday. “For whatever reason, it did not abide by the requirements we and the university set forth.”
Last year the chapter landed on probation with both the university and Sigma Chi Corp., after the international organization learned chapter members had brought two strippers to their house in April 1999 for a pledge event.
The three-year probation prohibited alcohol in the house and at chapter events during the 1999-2000 school year, but university officials learned of alcohol at Sigma Chi’s 2000 spring formal and informed Sigma Chi Corp.
“The chapter violated their probation by having a formal at the end of the year which not only included alcohol but featured an open bar,” Associate Director for Greek Affairs Steve Dealph wrote in a Sept. 1 e-mail to NU fraternity and sorority presidents.
Sigma Chi chapter president Billy Hightower, a McCormick senior, on Monday said members were unsatisfied with the conditions of the probation.
“I think (the university) took a no-tolerance approach to our chapter this year,” he said. “They were upset with things that had happened in the chapter.”
The chapter’s probation would have lasted until June 2002, but Sigma Chi’s return to NU now seems several years beyond that date.
“The university will work with both the alumni and the national organization to plan the re-colonization of Sigma Chi to campus within the next 3-4 years,” wrote Dealph, who was unavailable to comment Monday.
The fraternity press release said NU had recommended “a loss of recognition for a period of two to three years.” But interim Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Banis said no “hard deadline” for Sigma Chi’s return had been set.
Interfraternity Council President Dustin Cook said he was only “a little bit” surprised at the suspension of the charter. In Sigma Chi’s situation, “I think there were some mistakes made that couldn’t be overlooked,” said Cook, a McCormick senior.
Just like Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi had its charter suspended by its national organization in April 1994.
However, while Beta’s members at the time retaliated by breaking furniture, throwing objects out windows and burning pledge books, Hightower said Sigma Chi members have mostly stuck by their fraternity.
“I feel most are still very loyal Sigma Chis,” he said. “Not many people are upset with the national organization.”
The timing of the decision left Sigma Chi in a better situation than Beta faced in 1994. Beta members were told of their suspension during the school year, and they were given only a few hours to pack and leave their house at 2349 Sheridan Road.
After letters officially informed Sigma Chi members of the suspension in August, the house was allowed to remain open until the beginning of New Student Week so members could retrieve belongings from the building, Hightower said.
During the month, Sigma Chi’s house corporation, Gregg Kindle in the Office of Residential Life, and some Sigma Chi members living in the fraternity house over the summer helped displaced members find housing. Hightower said everyone had found other housing as of last weekend.
“We had a long time,” he said. “We had over a month to find housing.”
Sigma Chi member Alex Welk, a McCormick junior, said friends at Delta Tau Delta found him a place to live in their house.
Although his housing plans had to change quickly, Welk said he wasn’t surprised or upset about the suspension. “I don’t blame the university, and I don’t blame nationals,” he said. “When something happens like this, I think you have to look at yourself first. What happened is kind of hard to justify.”
Dealph’s e-mail said the fraternity’s house, which will continue to be leased to the fraternity’s house corporation, will “most likely remain empty with a possible exception of a caretaker staying in the house for security and upkeep.”
As Sigma Chi went on suspension this summer, a Beta chapter returned to NU, completing the comeback from its 1994 suspension.
The chapter was re-chartered during the first week in August, Beta president Doug Oldham said. They had been recolonized the precursor to regaining a charter and becoming a chapter at the university in fall 1997.
Saying it was “great” to be back as a chapter, Oldham compared being a colony to having “probationary status.” Before colonies become chapters, he said, “No one has total confidence in you.”
Although Sigma Chi’s recolonization date is undecided, Sigma Chi Corp. President Anderson said the fraternity will need a “strong Sigma Chi value system in place” before its return. Once a new colony is formed, he estimated rechartering would occur about a year later.
He said the fraternity would work with NU to bring back the fraternity, just as they had during the suspension decision-making process.
On the university’s end, Banis was also positive about a chapter’s return. “They have their lease (on their house). They’re certainly welcome to recolonize,” he said.
“Do we want Sigma Chi here? The answer’s yes.”