On Monday April 30, the Phi Sigma Xi fraternity received recognition as a member of Geneseo’s Inter Greek Council following a two-semester-long suspension of its charter.
In April 2011, Phi Sigma Xi – also known as the Phigs – was placed on interim suspension after a warranted police search that uncovered marijuana and cocaine possession on the premises of its Center Street house.
In order to regain recognition as an organization, the Inter Greek Council placed the Phigs under a series of strict mandates that they were required to fulfill.
“We had to comply to a lot of sanctions, but among them was completing the gold and bronze certificate for the G.O.L.D. program,” said Neal Hunter, president of Phigs. “We each also had to complete 20 hours of community service.”
The fraternity acted as a whole to fulfill its service requirements by working on various projects throughout the Geneseo community. “We cleaned up the highway and we worked at Groveland Park,” said Hunter. “We also raked leaves around the whole town throughout the fall. We did what we could to help make the community look better.”
With the concern that their recent history may affect the future of their fraternity, the Phigs are planning ahead for their 2012 fall recruitment process. “We plan to host joint events throughout rushing with our sister organization, Phi Lambda Chi,” said Hunter. “We also want to host fundraising events and set up a table in the union in order to reach out to potential pledges.”
“Our recent suspension may affect what kind of rushes we attract. That negative reputation will be with us for a while,” said Hunter. “I think that what we’ve done to regain recognition will speak for itself though. We have clearly made a lot of changes within our organization.”
According to Hunter, the Phigs will approach the 2012-2013 academic year with the goal of sustaining the work that they have done throughout their year of suspension.
“As an organization we still have things that we need to improve,” said Hunter.
“We are going to make an effort to increase our presence on campus by cooperating with other Greek organizations and participating in more charity events. Promoting cooperation with everyone will be a main focus for the upcoming year.”
“The experience of this past year has changed us for the better,” said Hunter.
“It was the best wake-up call we could have gotten. It showed that things needed to be taken care of. We did an about-face in a year and that year has been very beneficial. We have really grown as an organization.”