National Greek chapter seeking members

"Why pledge a fraternity when you can start a legacy?"

National Sigma Pi representative Matt Friedman is at Marshall asking young men just that.

Friedman is here to establish a Sigma Pi chapter at Marshall.

"We are out to make a better Greek system," Friedman said. "We want everyone to have the Greek experience...to give them more options to choose from. There are 20,000 some students at Marshall and only 10 national fraternities."

Sigma Pi is a men's social fraternity with a focus on scholarship, leadership and service. Its national philanthropy, chosen this past summer, is the Red Cross.

The fraternity was started in 1897 at Vincennes University in Vincennes, Ind. Its four founding fathers are William Raper Kennedy, James Thompson Kingsbury, George Martin Patterson and Rolin Rosco James.

"I think it is great that Marshall is getting a new fraternity," said Ryan Alberston, a TKE member from Rich-mond, Va.

"Marshall is expanding, so the Greek system should too... it gives guys more options."

Nationally, Sigma Pi has 110 chapters and 10 colonies.

There are three steps to creating a fraternity. First, an interest group must be developed.

It is made up of anyone who is even remotely interested in starting a new fraternity. Marshall has reached this step and is working on step two.

Once the interest group has at least 25 members, it is initiated as a colony. The colony abides by all the rules set by the grand chapter. Usually, the colony is granted its charter and becomes a chapter about a year later.

"We wanted to establish a chapter at Marshall because we feel that it is an excellent institution and wanted to be there," said Mark Briscoe, executive director of Sigma Pi.

"It has a wonderful reputation for academics and the type of students that come out of it.

"All Greek organizations are similar, it's what the members put into them that makes them different. We wanted to give some young men the chance to start and build a fraternity the way they want," he added.

"To start their own traditions and build it upon the foundations they feel are important."

Friedman said there are many benefits to starting a fraternity rather than joining an existing one.

The founding members get to start new traditions that may be carried on for years to come, their names are placed on the charter as the "Founding Fathers" of the Marshall chapter and they do not have to go through a pledging process.

"My friends and I wanted to pledge a fraternity, but we didn't want to have to deal with all the traditions; we wanted to start our own," said Scott Thompson, Hurricane freshman.

Friedman will be on campus until the end of rush.

Any men interested in helping start the new fraternity can contact Friedman through the Office of Student Activities and Greek Affairs in the Memorial Student Center, at 696-2283.

Briscoe also added that he wants to thank everyone at Marshall for being so helpful to Friedman and Sigma Pi.

"Everyone, including the Greek organizations on campus," Briscoe said, "which speaks volumes about the type of people that attend Marshall."