After many years and about 14 chapter petitions, Kappa Sigma has finally been voted into the Interfraternity Council (IFC).
Kappa Sigma was the first fraternity to join campus since the 1900s, which made the process to join IFC a struggle. The process was prolonged because of how the fraternity joined the Stevens community. The national program to create new chapters on campus, Champions Quest, was very aggressive and did not wait for Stevens approval to begin a colony, a group of interested members that are not yet brothers. The founders of Kappa Sigma ignored cease and desist letters and threats to expel all involved students sent from Stevens, back in 2011. The founders hoped that Stevens would cave in. Luckily for the fraternity, Stevens did “cave in.” As of January 28, 2012, the Stevens chapter of Kappa Sigma was founded and became the Rho Omega chapter of Kappa Sigma.
This process upset a lot of the other fraternities, according to Christian Ribeiro, President of Kappa Sigma, and therefore the other fraternities refused to vote Kappa Sigma into the IFC. This grudge was able to be put aside when the founding members graduated. However, another problem presented itself when, in the spring 2017, the Kappa Sigma executive board stopped paying IFC dues. “We were paying [IFC dues] anyway, since we were technically ‘probationary members’ of the IFC, meaning we could participate in everything but couldn’t vote or hold an e-board position,” explained Ribeiro. Other chapters were angered when Kappa Sigma stopped paying dues because money was being held against the IFC chapters. However, this action made the chapters reconsider their stance on why Kappa Sigma wasn’t in IFC, “as the IFC could barely do anything without our money since we are one of the biggest chapters on campus,” according to Ribeiro.
Kappa Sigma had to have another chapter petition in order to be voted into becoming full members of the IFC. After the petition, the president would give a talk and answer any questions, and then at the next IFC meeting, Kappa Sigma’s membership would be voted on. A 7 out of 10 yay vote was needed for Kappa Sigma to get approved. They had a 6 vote support. When the Kappa Sigma e-board payed back all outstanding dues in good faith, the vote changed to unanimous.
Kappa Sigma wanted to join the IFC to be united with all of the Greek organizations in it, and to be able to work together with them. Now, Kappa Sigma will be able to run for IFC e-board positions. “I would love to have our organization to be able to lead the IFC since they technically are in charge of all social fraternities on campus,” responded Ribeiro in an email correspondence with The Stute.
There were many in the Greek community who showed support for the addition to the IFC: “It’s such a relief that Kappa Sigma finally got the votes to become a full member of the IFC. With this being my second term on the IFC e-board, I can tell you we’ve wasted way too much time on this issue, and it’s great that we can finally put it behind us and move forward as a Greek community,” commented Jake Schozer, President of the IFC.
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