After years of preparation, the Kappa Alpha Order and Sigma Phi Epsilon Greek organizations have been rechartered after losing their original charter years ago.
In the case of Sigma Phi Epsilon, which lost their charter in 2004, rechartering is the result of five years of hard work and strict regulations. According to current president Dustin Nelson, a senior in chemical engineering, the decision to revoke the charter was due to financial and conduct reasons.
“A couple things that I do believe were involved with that decision to lose the charter were chapter finances — the chapter was in debt, I believe to the tune of $20,000 — and the conduct of the brothers. They had gotten in trouble with Student Conduct for various things in the past,” Nelson said.
Rechartering is a long and difficult process, according to Nelson.
“Each chapter gets certain requirements in terms of what kind of goals they need to reach before they can even send in their application to be chartered. You have to be in the top 10 percent of all IFC fraternities in all quantifiable aspects,” Nelson said about Sigma Phi Epsilon.
“A lot of work goes into recruiting enough people to perform to the standards they want us to meet,” he added. “It’s safe to say that Sig Ep’s charter requirements are without a doubt the most rigorous requirements across the board.”
Some of the requirements, Nelson said, involved academics, members and standing among other fraternities.
“The GPA has to be above the all-student average GPA, we had to have 60 members at any given time and we had to be in the top three among fraternities on campus, and that’s quantifiable through the Caldwell cup,” Nelson said.
Sigma Phi Epsilon won the Caldwell cup in 2010, marking it as the best fraternity on campus.
“I think we still have a long way to go,” Nelson said. “Being the top fraternity here at State is not the end of our journey. If you compare our chapter to Sigma Phi Epson chapters nationally, we’re about average. Sig Ep’s national GPA is about 3.08. In the fall semester of 2010, our chapter achieved an average of 3.08, so looking at it that way, we’re right on the average line for Sigma Phi Epsilon.”
Fraternity Kappa Alpha Order also lost its charter in 2004 and was recently rechartered. According to Kappa Alpha representative Lynn Clark, a senior in business administration, getting their charter back was a long process.
“To get our charter back, we had a checklist of things to accomplish,” Clark said. That checklist included reaching 30 members, having a GPA of 2.7 or better and participating in community service.
Clark said he anticipates challenges with Kappa Alpha re-establishing itself on campus, but is optimistic.
“With any re-establishment of any type of organization, there are always challenges. For Kappa Alpha, good management of the organization is key,” Clark said.
Nelson acknowledged that not everyone on campus has a good opinion of fraternities.
“A lot of people will down the Greek system here at N.C. State,” Nelson said, “but we’re trying to break those stereotypes.”
Nelson said he wanted Sigma Phi Epsilon to go beyond being the best fraternity on campus.
“We’re an all-around organization,” Nelson said. “We offer the best undergraduate experience outside of class. That’s where we’re trying to go. We’re already the best fraternity on campus with winning the Caldwell cup. The challenge is now becoming the best co-curricular organization on campus.”
