If you encounter a man in a derby hat at some point today, don’t try to steal the head topper – unless you want to incense the several sorority women vying for a bowler hat.
After all, these are Derby Days.
Derby Days is a Sigma Chi philanthropic tradition benefiting Children’s Miracle Network, Sigma Chi’s national charity. The philanthropy had been going on for at least 15 years at Northwestern until Sigma Chi was kicked off campus in 2000. The fraternity returned last year. This year marks the first time since their return that Sigma Chi has held Derby Days.
So far, the event has raised at least $10,000, including in-kind and alumni donations, Sigma Chi President Matt Gierke said. In-kind donations are goods donated by Evanston businesses, such as the 300 pizzas donated by Domino’s Pizza, 1168 Dodge Ave., and raffle prizes.
“It’s probably the biggest Greek-run philanthropy event on campus,” said Gierke, a Weinberg junior.
This week has been marked by a streak of bar nights, as well as contests and games centered on uniting the NU community and enticing friendly competition between the 12 different Panhellenic sororities on campus.
One traditional event is the Derby Pursuit, held all day Wednesday. Sigma Chi men don the round, form-fitting hats and sorority women attempt to snag them to gain points for their chapter.
The sorority with the most points at the end of this week earns a 10 percent slice of the overall proceeds for the sorority’s national charity.
Derby Days kicked off Sunday when members of Sigma Chi serenaded women in the sorority quads. The week has since included banner decorating and T-shirt signing contests.
Tuesday’s event featured a 10-hour Hot Tub Marathon, a popular event founded by the NU chapter of Sigma Chi. Sorority women relaxed on the Sigma Chi porch and jumped into one of three hot tubs in tag-team fashion until 2 a.m. The smell of pizza and barbeque swirled in the air as members of different sororities mingled.
“This is a way to make friends (across chapters),” said Erica Koch, a Weinberg junior and member of Chi Omega. “We can mix and mingle with other members of different houses.”
The event did not violate Freshman Freeze rules because being on Sigma Chi’s porch does not count as entrance into the chapter’s house.
Tonight’s Derby Days event is a raffle night at Tommy Nevin’s Pub and Restaurant, 1450 Sherman Ave., when $1,000 in prizes will be auctioned off, including an iPod nano. Gierke and Ryan Bertram, the Derby Days chairman, credit the success of the event to its timing. With so many philanthropy events happening during Spring Quarter, a fall quarter event did not suffer from too much competition, he said.
“(Everyone) could focus on just Derby Days,” said Bertram, a McCormick junior.
Sigma Chi members have been organizing the event since the summer. Each member was encouraged to raise $100 dollars over the summer. When members returned to campus in the fall, they had raised about $6,000.
The biggest challenge in organizing the event was coordinating efforts to contact businesses and dealing with paperwork, Bertram said.
“It’s a full-time job,” Bertram said.
Sigma Chi was kicked off campus for having alcohol at a fraternity event in 2000. The fraternity started to recruit again in 2004.
“Our presence is obviously (increased) on campus, which is a nice perk,” Bertram said. “But it’s not the main goal.”
The main goal is to “help sick children,” Bertram said.
Future plans to improve Derby Days have not been coordinated, but Bertram said he wanted to get the entire NU community – not just Greeks – involved in the event.
“I want to make this larger scale,” Bertram said.
Reach Deepa Seetharaman at [email protected].
