The University is planning on expanding the Greek-letter community by adding one fraternity this fall.
GW and the Interfraternity Council have invited five national Greek-letter organizations to present proposals to the IFC expansion committee. One will then become a colony and be recognized by the University.
“Our first priority is to expand to entirely new fraternities and one will come in the spring,” said Dave Upbin, president of the IFC.
Upbin said the five organizations selected by the IFC Expansion Committee to present are Sigma Chi, Delta Chi, Kappa Alpha Order, Phi Kappa Sigma and Acacia, which does not use traditional Greek letters.
The announcement of the new fraternity will be made after fall rush, which ends Oct. 1.
Robert Chernak, senior vice president of Student and Academic Support Services, said Greek-letter expansion is a priority on campus and he encourages even more expansion.
“Look at our population of 9,400 undergrads and we only have 12 fraternities,” Chernak said. “I support giving students as many choices as possible. Restricting the number of groups that you can associate yourself with will mean less choices for students.”
Senior John Van Name, president of Pi Kappa Alpha, said he also supports Greek-letter expansion.
“The more the merrier,” Van Name said. “More fraternities creates competition, and competition forces individual betterment.”
In light of the coming expansion, the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, which is currently unrecognized, is considering beginning the process of gaining formal recognition.
Sigma Alpha Mu President Anthony Moniello said he is pleased with his fraternity’s performance and its national organization’s support. The organization has won top prizes in philanthropy and academics at its national convention and came in second place in the Founder’s Cup, the award given to the best chapter in the country.
The organization’s recent success has triggered interest in getting University recognition. Sigma Alpha Mu once existed on campus but dissolved in the late 1990s due to lack of interest among its members. The group reformed in 2001 and has since operated off campus.
Moniello and Tim Miller, director of the Student Activities Center, the umbrella group that oversees Greek-letter life, have had initial discussions about the process of becoming recognized on campus. Miller stressed, however, that this is not the typical process through which a fraternity becomes a member of the Greek-letter community.
“Their situation is different because of their (unrecognized) situation,” Miller said. “These are new waters and there isn’t really a process or timeline.”
Miller said the University has no official stance on the status of Sigma Alpha Mu becoming recognized. APES and Sigma Alpha Epsilon are the two other unrecognized fraternities at GW.
Moniello disputed past complaints about Sigma Alpha Mu’s record of violations of University regulation.
“We gave over $10,000 in philanthropy last year and have a grade point average of 3.3,” Moniello said. “My opinion is we are trying to distinguish ourselves with an identity, and we think the school and ourselves would benefit from being on campus.”
Moniello added that he feels that his organization’s negative reputation is unfounded.
“We are interested in why we are not worthy to be on campus,” Moniello said. “The fraternity and myself are tired of hearing from The Hatchet and faculty about how we are such bad kids. Then people actually meet us and are surprised.”
Other members of the Greek-letter community said they are interested in Sigma Alpha Mu’s decision to explore becoming recognized.
Upbin said, “I think that if (Sigma Alpha Mu) was willing to be a constructive member of the Greek-letter community that the other 12 work for, then I think the other 12 frats will be willing to entertain the idea.”
