Last Fall many fraternities on this campus was placed on a Social Probation period after not receiving the proper amount of stars on the “Five Star Packet,” during the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This accountability packet was designed by the Greek Life Office as a way to keep positive engagement between IFC fraternities and campus along with the community through service, and philanthropy. However, after being put on an social probation period the Sigma Chi chapter on campus realized some major inconsistencies in the bylaws of the IFC (InterFraternal Council) here on campus and the Constitution of the NIFC (North American InterFraternal Council) the governing body which handles the contractile agreements between member fraternities and the universities they inhabit. This led Sigma Chi along with five other IFC fraternities to disaffiliate with Sam Houston State University, causing the university to lose millions in greek life alumni donations.
This caused the university to terminate multiple administrators within the Greek Life office here at Sam Houston. Ultimately, these administrators were replaced with new hires and the fraternities affiliated back with Sam Houston State and once again joining their peers on the IFC board. There was also an extended period of time last Spring semester were multiple reform committees consisting of administrators and students alike worked side by side to resolve some of the fundamental issues greek life was facing. Overall, things have been looking up for the department and greek life in general. With the new accountability packet being incentive driven instead of punishment based. Because of this fraternity and sorority members alike are more inclined and motivated to participate in positive work within the community and campus. Also by stripping away the practice harsh punishment, one bad semester will not permanently effect any one organization. Especially in the instance of recruitment base punishment, which happened to be the basis of a lot of the discourse between the Greek Life office and the student base. Sanctions on recruitment gave Sigma Chi and their Independent InterFraternal Council dubbed the Freedom Fraternal Council, mass amount of support by their respected national organizations and the North American InterFraternal Council itself. Leading up to the new hires the NIFC actually supported the disaffiliated chapter’s new independent council over the school sponsored IFC board.
However, as we approach the halfway mark of the 2022-2023 School year overall greek life has taken a positive turn since the recruiting of the new hires. The IFC experienced a very successful formal rush week, which was the first completely normal rush week since prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s Fall formal rush also ended with the first normal “jump,” which is a tradition in which each fraternity forms a mosh pit in the Old Main pit with their respected new members. Between Covid-19 and the disaffiliation of such a large number of member organizations, the new hired have brought back sense of normalcy and tradition to the greek community at Sam Houston.