IFC Votes to Re-Recognize Sigma Pi Fraternity; House Will Be Required to Have Dry Rush

The InterFraternity Council voted at their weekly meeting last night to make the Sigma Pi fraternity an associate member of the IFC — a decision that will be recognized by the University.
The IFC also decided that the fraternity can vote in the council and that it will be up for review in a year. Additionally, the fraternity will be allowed to hold rush in January, though it will be required to be dry.
The decision comes about a year after the fraternity had to send four freshmen, two of whom required life-sustaining medical treatment, to Cayuga Medical Center due to excessive alcohol consumption at a Thanksgiving dinner in November. The incident caused Sigma Pi to lose its official University recognition and IFC membership.
Eric Blair-Joannou ’10, IFC vice president for recruitment, explained last night’s decision, saying, “We do recognize that they did a lot this year, including alumni review, alcohol draining and making their house dry, [but] the incident is still fresh in people’s minds since there were two near deaths, so we still want to be careful. We can’t deny that something so serious happened so recently.”
Greg Schvey ’09, president of the IFC, said the fraternity will gain its associate member status on Jan. 1st. The decision was voted on yesterday since last night marked the IFC’s last meeting of the semester. He added that it is not typical to give associate members the right to vote and hold rush, but said, “We want to let them get back in the swing of being a chapter. We will see how it turns out and vote again next year.”