The Sigma Chi fraternity will become a University-recognized chapter at its initiation ceremony this weekend.

The Epsilon chapter has been working to be reinstated since February 2006, when the University approved the fraternity’s return to campus. During the ceremony on Sept. 16 at the Grand Hyatt at Metro Center, the chapter’s members will receive its official charter from Robert Jones, Sigma Chi’s grand consul.

“The men of Sigma Chi have worked hard over the past 18 months to develop a strong chapter that will continue to benefit the GW campus and Greek community,” said Dean Harwood, director of Greek Life and assistant director of the Student Activities Center.

Senior Justin Levy, president of the GW chapter, said the members had to submit more than 150 pages of material describing their activities and policies to the Sigma Chi fraternity’s national headquarters, as part of their reinstatement.

Being installed as a chapter will allow the members to “experience (the) Sigma Chi ritual,” as well as to “participate in Sigma Chi leadership development workshops throughout the year,” Levy said. Additionally, members of the fraternity can now wear their Greek letters on campus.

For the week prior to the official installation, the members participated in a “period of quiet introspection and education,” said David Asselin, the grand praetor of the alumni advisory board for the chapter.

Approximately 300 guests, including members of the Inter-Fraternity Council and Panhellenic Association, Sigma Chi alumni and various GW administrators will attend the initiation ceremony and celebration.

The chapter was originally chartered at GW in 1864, and was re-chartered in 1892, 1973 and now in 2007, according to the GW Greek life Web site. The fraternity lost its recognition from the University in 2000, after it had been put on probation in 1998 for hosting a party at Colonial Inauguration and was later cited for hazing violations.