Sigma Chi's secrets offered on eBay before removal

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Just not if it involves secret fraternity documents.\nFeb. 19 an eBay user posted the Sigma Chi fraternity ritual guide for a starting bid of $25. "This 136-page document contains all of the secrets of the fraternity including initiation, chapter meetings, and everything having to do with the ritual," the item description stated.\nThe seller, with the user ID "scerry," removed the ritual guide from auction before any bids had been received and "the item is no longer available for sale," according to eBay.\nExecutive Secretary of the Sigma Chi International Fraternity Mark V. Anderson said the eBay document wasn't real. \n"We hired an outside investigator to look into this matter, and it was determined that the supposed Sigma Chi ritual guide offered on eBay was in fact a fraud, so we made sure it was removed from auction," Anderson said.\nThe next day, Anderson sent out a proposed amendment which also reminded members to maintain the secrecy of the ritual guide. \nAccording to the Sigma Chi official Web site, the document contains forms of integrity each chapter is expected to live by. \n"Our guiding principles, unchanged for almost 150 years, continue to define the essence of Sigma Chi," the Web site stated. "Like all Greek organizations, Sigma Chi's ideals and purposes are set forth in a secret document called our Ritual."\nSigma Chi's Lambda Chapter, founded on-campus in 1858, offered no comment on the ritual process or the various problems, if any, that might arise out of publicly disclosing the secrets contained within the ritual guide.\nInterfraternity Council Vice President Mike Trent said an issue like this shouldn't come up because anyone who has access to such a guide is sworn to keep it secret. \n"Every brother swears on an oath of secrecy not to discuss their perspective ritual outside of his chapter," Trent said. "Each house has particular values, basic principles and oaths of integrity that make them unique, and tradition prevents secrets from getting out because each brother is expected to live by the values of his chapter."\nHe added that public access to the Sigma Chi ritual guide may not be detrimental to the fraternity since issues involving initiation in the Greek system are typically formed over the years and certainly "off the books." \nThe Sigma Chi International Headquarters represents 200,000 living members who all have the right to view the ritual guide at any time; however, each copy is owned by the International organization and must be accounted for when necessary. \nAnderson compared the potential damage of auctioning a real ritual guide to that of his daughter's Catholic confirmation process. \n"You need to experience confirmation in order to understand what the final ceremony is all about," he said. "If you only attend the ceremony without having been confirmed, you might find it interesting but you certainly wouldn't know what it was all about or have any idea what was going on." \n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.