Sigma Nu recognized for improvements

IU senior Matthew Moran is winning.

Moran, president of IU’s Sigma Nu fraternity, said he thinks of inspiring members as a series of “wins” that make his job worthwhile.

“It’s been a great experience for me, and I’ve really developed as a person,” Moran said.

“Learning to motivate a group of men is not easy, but those small wins and those big wins all make it meaningful.”

Moran was recently named the Interfraternity Council’s “Greek Man of the Year,” and Sigma Nu was named “Most Improved Chapter” and “Most Improved Chapter in Values Integration” at the annual Greek Leadership Awards ceremony.

The event honors individual chapters and members from the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Multi-Cultural Greek Council.

Awards given are based on a fraternity or sorority’s commitment to education, scholarship, brotherhood or sisterhood, leadership and citizenship.

“It’s just a great recognition of leadership and the experiences that I’ve had in the greek community and at IU,” Moran said.

“Leadership just keeps getting better and better, and I’ve had some great past commanders to look up to.”

Moran said his brothers “really pushed him” to run for fraternity president, and this support is one of the fraternity’s core values: brotherhood.

Values Integration is an area the house has improved most.

“We’re definitely living up to our values of love, honor and truth and really taking that to heart,” Moran said.

“That’s evident from our increase in community service, non-profit efforts and just the way we do business.”

Senior and former president of the fraternity Sebastian Sauer said that without Moran’s lead-by-example style of leadership, none of the awards or community events Sigma Nu sponsored would have been possible.

“We really have made a 180-degree turn,” Sauer said.

“We were a little bit, I wouldn’t say shaky, when I first started, but now we’ve really improved in camaraderie, organizing and being civilly active.”

The fraternity has already started planning its 2012 fall philanthropy event, “Sigma Nu Showdown.”

The event will be a flag football tournament with proceeds benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the fraternity’s national organization.

Moran said he got the idea from the Sigma Nu chapter at University of Minnesota.

“I think the key to leadership is to motivate people to go above and beyond what they’re expected to do,” Moran said.

“It’s basically about motivating people to do more than they think they could.”

Sophomore and Sigma Nu public relations chair John Bauernfield said Moran’s leadership and the house’s positive atmosphere are his favorite parts about the greek system, and greek life.

“He’s just being really open and really approachable at all times,” Bauernfield said.
“Everybody can talk to anybody at any time, and everybody respects one another.”
In the future, the house looks to continue to increase its community outreach and support with other on- and off-campus organizations.

For now, however, Moran enjoys the success he and Sigma Nu have had.

“It feels really, really awesome,” Moran said. “Being greek is definitely the best experience I’ve had at Indiana.”