Sigma Pi to rejoin Greek community after losing recognition in 2008
After a lengthy colonization process, Central Michigan University's Delta Alpha chapter of Sigma Pi will recharter and rejoin the Greek community on April 12.
The fraternity began colonizing – forming a group that is recognized with provisional membership and moving toward full-fraternity membership – in February when they were approached by members of Sigma Pi International.
Until the fraternity charters, Sigma Pi is recognized as a Greek organization with limitations.
"During this time, they are working on an exhaustive list of things they must get done to charter," said chapter director Ron Browne. "It also has social events to build brotherhood in the group and externally to the Greek system, requirements for outreach to the greater community in the form of service projects and several philanthropic events, and the group is also required to maintain a very high level of scholastic success."
The fraternity returns after having its charter revoked in 2008 by the previous Sigma Pi's Executive Director, Mark Briscoe, and losing recognition from the university for violations of the student code of conduct by the Office of Student Conduct.
After chartering, members of Sigma Pi will have a vote at the interfraternity conference and within the national conference to vote for their grand council.
Becoming a fully-recognized fraternity means a lot to the men of Sigma Pi, and is recognized as one of their biggest accomplishments.
"We've put in a lot of hard work in the past year and there have been good and bad times," said Benjamin Dudley, president and Dimondale senior. "In February, we really had no idea what being in a fraternity meant, but now, being around each other, we know what it means and we've had the opportunity to shape it how we wanted to and start our own traditions."
As a newly-chartered fraternity, the men of Sigma Pi hope to have a big impact on, not only the Greek community, but CMU as a whole, through philanthropy and building relationships.
"The fact that we are coming back is a big deal," said Novi junior Sean McNiff. "We are trying to make a really strong presence in the community by doing a lot of work with Donate Life, one of our philanthropies. We want to get our name out there."
Dudley stressed that Sigma Pi will not be known for a party atmosphere, but rather a conduit for noble values.
"We have certain values that we uphold and take to heart, like community service, brotherhood, chivalry and growing into better people," he said. "We're not stereotypical where we just go out and party. We uphold these values to make us better people than we were before joining"
