By Liz Coffin-KarlinThe Daily Northwestern
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Paddy Murphy Week ’07 raised $2,251 for the fraternity’s national philanthropy, the Children’s Miracle Network.
Paddy Murphy Week’s charity-driven festivities concluded Saturday with a dance party.
“Paddy Murphy Week is a way for SAE to show the well-roundedness of the chapter,” said Weinberg junior Zach Freeman, the SAE philanthropy chair, who planned the events.
Although this is only the NU chapter’s second Paddy Murphy Week since returning to campus in Spring Quarter 2005, it is an annual event that SAE chapters throughout the country host.
Sororities accumulated points when members participated in different Paddy Murphy Week activities and contests, such as a 5K run at the Lakefill on April 7, a weeklong clothing drive and Powder Puff football Saturday.
All 12 sororities participated in the contest. Kappa Kappa Gamma received $500 of SAE’s proceeds for earning the most points in the week’s sorority competitions. Kappa will donate the money to its national philanthropy, Reading Is Fundamental. Saturday night SAE threw a midnight victory party for Kappa.
Paddy Murphy Week is based on the exploits of a criminal from Prohibition-era Chicago. Although details of his story vary, the version the fraternity tells describes Murphy as an SAE brother who worked for Al Capone’s liquor ring. For an unknown reason, Murphy fled from Capone and hid in NU’s SAE chapter house, although Freeman said many chapters claim their own houses as his hideout.
According to the story, Chicago law enforcer Eliot Ness eventually tracked Murphy down and shot him. But as Murphy was dying, the two recognized their SAE brotherhood.
Because the annual event is still new to NU, SAE had a relatively free rein when planning events.
“As a second-year event, we as a chapter were free to experiment,” Freeman said.
The weeklong Salvation Army clothing drive was new this year, Freeman said.The fraternity gave large packing boxes to each of the sororities, which then competed to donate the largest amounts of clothing. When the competition ended on Thursday, sororities had filled 14 boxes of clothing.
SAE assigned members to each sorority to act as advisors. These representatives donated their own clothing to the drive and cheered or coached the Powder Puff football games.
The week’s events aimed to create stronger bonds among NU Greek organizations, Freeman said.
Although Freeman said SAE made a concerted effort to expand the activities beyond the Greek community, some non-Greek students on campus said they did not know about the activities or the week’s philanthropic nature.
“I still don’t really know what it is,” said Communication freshman Betsy Hogg. “I saw people selling T-shirts by The Arch, but that was it.”
Throughout the week SAE members sold T-shirts and held “Penny Wars” near The Rock. Some campus tour guides even stopped their tours to explain Greek philanthropy, and passers-by occasionally donated to the cause.
“This has been a labor of love among the people of the house for a long time,” Freeman said.
Reach Liz Coffin-Karlin at [email protected].
