‘We are ready to take this campus by storm’

After a six-year absence from their house, the brothers of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Beta chapter will be returning home for the fall 2008 semester.\nThe house, located at 815 N. Jordan Ave., is currently going through a seven-figure renovation to update the facility, said Tyler Coward, public relations chairman for Sigma Phi Epsilon. \n“All of the guys are excited about moving in,” Coward said. “It will be good to be all together in one place.”\nThe fraternity was founded in 1901 on the cardinal principles of “virtue, diligence and brotherly love,” according to a SigEp press release. Coward said the fraternity has grown to be the largest in the nation with more than 262,000 lifetime members and 13,500 undergraduates on 254 campuses. \nAt the beginning of the fall 2002 semester, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s alumni board placed the chapter under new rules and restrictions because of problems the national headquarters had with the chapter, according to a Jan. 1, 2003, Indiana Daily Student article. The restrictions forced many of the members to live out of the house, and the financial condition of Sigma Phi Epsilon deteriorated. Nationals chose not to pay some of the fraternity’s debts and closed the IU chapter to cut their losses, according to \nthe article.\nThe Beta chapter was re-established by its national headquarters in 2006 and has been growing ever since, said Cale O’Bryan, vice president of communications for the fraternity.\nCoward said the fraternity has 70 members and is still looking for more. \n“We are always looking for new members to join,” he said. “Our recruitment is a rolling, year-round recruitment.”\nCoward said members of the fraternity become part of the “Balanced Man” program, which requires them to complete different challenges to progress in the fraternity. He said they focus on more than just partying.\nSigma Phi Epsilon president Pat O’Marro said the fraternity is different from the stereotypical idea of fraternities people might have in their minds.\nSince the fraternity was re-established, he said, its core principles have become “a sound mind and a sound body.” The fraternity’s events are more traditional than other fraternities’ events, such as ballroom dancing and how to pick out a wedding ring. \nO’Bryan said that in December, the fraternity received the “The Highest Standard of Excellence Award” from the IU greek community. He said Sigma Phi Epsilon ranks among the top three fraternities with the highest GPA on campus.\nStudents can look for one of the fraternity’s philanthropy projects coming up on March 27 called “Hoosier Sweetheart,” O’Bryan said. The proceeds will go to support organizations focusing on the prevention and treatment of pediatric AIDS.\n“It is a little like Big Man on Campus except this is for the girls instead,” he said. \nO’Bryan said moving back in the chapter house is just the start of more things to come.\n“We are ready to take this campus by storm,” he said.