Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Interfraternity Council (IFC) welcomed Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy), a national fraternity, to Emory’s Greek Life at a meeting in the Dobbs University Center (DUC) on Tuesday evening, despite initial controversy regarding IFC’s procedure and expansion policies.
Sammy has been growing as an unofficial chapter on campus since January 2014 and was formally recognized by its national chapter in March. While one IFC member said he was concerned that IFC’s official recognition of Sammy did not follow the bylaws, several other members were concerned that IFC lacked an official policy dictating when they could recognize new chapters — also known as an “expansion policy” — and that IFC did not solicit the entire council’s opinion in their decision.
Despite the controversy, by the end of the IFC meeting on Tuesday, IFC President and College senior Taylor McNair concluded that IFC had “successfully welcomed” Sammy into its ranks.
Sammy Comes to Campus
College sophomore Jacob Lerner, who founded Sammy’s Emory chapter, said he initially reached out to members of the Sammy national chapter in January 2014 after he and a friend participated in IFC recruitment without finding a fraternity that “fit.” Soon, the two had attracted two more members.
Then, Sammy’s national chapter came to visit the group, which had grown to 10, last February, according to Lerner. By the end of last year, Sammy had grown to 25 members. After members attended a Sammy national convention in Washington, D.C. last summer and a Chapter Leaders Day in Tampa in January, Sammy’s national chapter recognized Emory’s chapter as an official Sammy chapter on March 20th.
IFC Members Debate Recognizing the Chapter
During the IFC meeting, former President of Kappa Sigma and College senior Alex Heideman voiced his concerns that IFC didn’t have an official standard for recognizing chapters.
“Could Teke then walk on campus and establish themselves here?” Heidman questioned, citing Tau Kappa Epsilon (Teke) as an example of a fraternity that might decide to recruit members at Emory.
Addressing Heidman’s concerns, McNair said that Sammy’s situation is “a bit different than someone walking on campus and starting a chapter.”
McNair added that the University isn’t “actively looking for organizations to come to campus” and reaffirmed that Sammy’s situation is not like others’.
“What’s unique about this group is that they’ve been on campus for a year, are nationally recognized and are 25 people strong, which isn’t insignificant,” he added.
Heidman also questioned whether IFC had followed its bylaws.
However, Sammy’s addition to IFC did follow the IFC bylaws, according to Acting Assistant Dean for Campus Life and Interim Director of Sorority & Fraternity Life Marlon Gibson, who claimed that some of the members probably did not read the bylaws thoroughly enough.
The bylaws state that there are three routes through which fraternities can establish themselves at Emory, one of which includes an interest group submitting a formal petition for recognition to IFC.
Sammy used this route in January, according to Gibson.
Kappa Sigma fraternity President and Goizueta Business School junior James Gullo said he had no objection with the addition of Sammy to the council but that IFC needed to establish a formal expansion plan for the future. Gullo added that he wished the presidents of the IFC member fraternities had been more involved in the decision making process.
“[New recruiting is] not worth the discussion if the decision is only up to three people,” Gullo said.
B-School junior and IFC Vice President of Finance Griffin Sears wrote in an email to the Wheel that he also would have liked to see more involvement from individual chapters during the expansion process.
“The announcement of the expansion had been mentioned at several IFC meetings where chapter representatives were present; however, I feel that the process was a bit too informal,” Sears said.
In response, McNair said that although there was no official vote, he, Gibson and Lerner had been discussing the situation for a while, and he had opened this topic up for discussion in IFC meetings for the past two weeks. This is the first objection he had heard regarding the issue, McNair said.
“We are going the route that seems best with a chapter like this, and since there were no objections, we were going to go forward,” McNair said. “But, if that has changed we can continue that discussion.”
McNair added that although they are just now recognizing Sammy, the fraternity has been on Emory’s campus for a while now.
Gibson noted that other chapters on campus have benefited from joining Greek Life in a similar way to Sammy such as Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT).
“As us being good stewards to people on this campus, it doesn’t make sense for us not to recognize Sammy,” Gibson said.
Referring to the the lack of an official expansion policy, Gibson said, “There won’t be a formal expansion plan, because when chapters leave it’s known they are coming back.” Gibson cited Sigma Nu as an example and said that Emory works with current chapters and chapters that will return.
Sammy’s Future
As for the next year, Lerner said that Sammy’s plans are “centered around involvement with members of the Greek community and other organizations on campus.”
Although they have not received formal word on whether or not they will participate in formal recruiting in the fall, Lerner said they would like to. He also said they would like to apply for housing as an opportunity for philanthropic efforts and as a “tool for bringing the University together.”
As for the future of IFC, Sears wrote that he hopes this discussion “will cause IFC and the larger fraternal community to reexamine the policies and procedures that [they] have created for [themselves].”
“Sammy’s addition sparked a larger conversation about the validity of any chapter that has colonized before it is given formal recognition by a Greek Council,” he added.
—By Annie McGrew
