Greetings Friends and Brothers,
As you all know, recently the Virginia Nu Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon received their charter. This is a huge milestone for the chapter as a whole and the chapter greatly appreciated the love and support that was shown by all that attended or contributed to the banquet celebrating the charter. As undergraduate brothers, we wanted to give a brief history of the chapter spanning from 1979 up until the point in which we became chartered.
In 1979, the idea of a SigEp chapter began to revolve around the Radford University Men’s Soccer team and students residing on the 12th floor of Muse Hall. Shortly after, Brothers John Chomeau and Bruce Marsh took the initiative to establish a SigEp chapter at Radford University and contacted the national headquarters of SigEp. In November of 1979, the first group of brothers was initiated by the Virginia Tech chapter. According to Brother Chomeau, the first ritual was a “serious and somber” event.
The following fall, the Chapter ran into a small crisis when several brothers graduated, transferred, or moved and momentum was lost. At this point in time, the chapter was not recognized by the school or the national organization, but brothers John Chomeau and Bruce Marsh, along with faculty adviser Dr. Brack Smith, worked with Dean Bonnie Hurlbert to put together application packets to get recognized. Trying to get off the ground, recruitment was the main focus of the chapter and the first pledge class managed by the Radford Chapter was recruited. The brothers that were still working toward recognition held their first formal Sigma Phi Epsilon rush at Radford. At this time, recruitment was also done individually by going after athletes, student leaders, and students with good academic records that wanted to join something that was different from other organizations; these men modeled what would come to be known as Balanced Men.
Finally, in the spring of 1981, Radford University gained their 6th fraternity: the Virginia Nu chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. To help celebrate the achievement of the 25 charter members, the Virginia Tech and Appalachian State chapters of Sigma Phi Epsilon traveled to Radford University for the initiation and Chartering Ceremony of the new chapter. In their first year chartered, the Virginia Nu brotherhood doubled in size and the chapter created the executive board. They also added Golden Hearts and a faculty adviser position. The chapter also won the Grand Chapter Cup and the highest GPA of a fraternity awards. Throughout 1982, the fraternity continued to grow in size and achieve excellence in athletics, academics, and community service. The fraternity again won highest GPA and also won the intramural flag football league and the President’s Cup.
Throughout the beginning of the chapter’s period chartered in the 80’s, the brothers of Virginia Nu learned some key lessons about the fraternity. For example, they wanted something that Radford Greek Life did not offer initially and that personal relationships mattered more than formal rush. The chapter had really taken in the core values and structured chapter operations around this. Unfortunately, this did not last all that long. In 1991, the Virginia Nu chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon had their charter revoked by the national headquarters and were expelled from Radford University for a series of problems.
In 2009, Brother Kent Warren started the push to get SigEp back on the Radford campus by raising the issue of the fraternity’s presence on campus to President Penelope Kyle and the SigEp Headquarters. In order to convince Headquarters that SigEp belonged on Radford’s campus, Brother Warren had to gain the support of the university, gain support from the alumni, and gain a significant support from the student body in the form of brothers. Between the years of 2014, when SigEp was first pitched to a group of men via the Balanced Man Scholarship and formed as the Radford SEC Chapter, all the way up until June 13, 2018, when the chapter executive board was first notified that they had been chartered, the brothers of the Radford SEC worked endlessly to recruit balanced men and gain their charter.
In March of 2019, the brothers of Virginia Nu were named as the founding fathers of the re-chartered chapter of Virginia Nu. On March 30, 2019 Brother Archie Yates, with alumni and members of the Virginia Tech SEC executive board in attendance, presented the charter to the undergraduate brothers of Virginia Nu. We want to thank all who attended and made the charter banquet incredibly special and memorable that weekend, as well as all who donated time and funding for the banquet.
Fraternally,
The Brothers of the Virginia Nu Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon