For the president of Northwestern’s newest fraternity — one that just went through its first student-led recruitment since returning to NU — Diego Berdakin is surprisingly laid back.
“We knocked one out of the ballpark, huh?” he said. The Omega chapter of Sigma Chi, having just returned to NU, recruited 27 new members during Winter Rush, in addition to its founding class of 45, recruited last spring.
In August 2000, Sigma Chi was kicked off campus after being sanctioned by its national organization for having alcohol at a fraternity event.
The incident occurred while Sigma Chi was on probation for another event involving strippers at a pledge event in April 1999.
“You can make a list of everything a fraternity could do to get kicked off campus,” said Berdakin, a Weinberg sophomore who was not at NU when Sigma Chi was kicked off campus. “I’m sure we did all that stuff.”
Mike Figueroa, a Music junior and Sigma Chi’s recruitment chairman, said the new group is working with a clean slate, lacking any negative individual traditions while keeping the positive traditions of the national organization intact.
“It’s the best of both worlds, really,” Figueroa said.
Alumni support was instrumental in resurrecting the Omega chapter of Sigma Chi. Patrick Ryan, chairman of NU’s Board of Trustees, is a graduate of the Omega chapter.
The chapter, which had been active for 131 years before shutting down, benefited from his and other graduates’ support.
Part of the the graduates’ effort was the creation of a founding class of Sigma Chi members during Spring Quarter 2004. Berdakin and Figueroa are both members of that class.
“They were fairly selective during the interview process,” Berdakin said. “We were all interviewed and had to submit a resume or comparable document. A lot of people applied, but very few were accepted.”
Figueroa said new members had to meet a bare minimum of seven tenets, known collectively as the Jordan Standard. The fraternity considered the ideal member to be “a man of character,” complete with a sense of ambition and involvement in student affairs.
Sigma Chi’s reintegration process has gone smoothly, said Kyle Pendleton, associate director of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
“We look at them as just another welcome member of the Greek community,” Pendleton said.
Sigma Chi’s biggest hurdle was dealing with the logistics of the actual Rush week experience, which some members, such as Figueroa, had never really gone through.
“Honestly, the biggest problem was getting the food here on time,” said Figueroa. “Otherwise, it went pretty smoothly.”
Jeff Conroy, a McCormick junior and member of Sigma Chi’s newest recruitment class, said he had never thought about joining a frat in the past, but Sigma Chi’s laid-back persona appealed to him.
“There’s nothing uptight about it, not like a lot of other frats I know,” Conroy said. “No one’s too rough around the edges.”
Berdakin agreed with Conroy’s assessment, citing Sigma Chi’s non-traditional recruitment as a reason for its success.
“Obviously, recruitment is difficult for any fraternity, especially for us,” Berdakin said. “We went out of our way to recruit individuals, and I think it’s paid off for us.”
Reach Joseph DeMartino at [email protected].
