Psi Colony Recognized for Leading With Values In January 2006, Sigma Nu set foot on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus to implement a pilot program for a semester-long expansion effort. Close to a year and a half later at the celebration of their re-chartering, the university honored Psi Chapter with the first-

ever Leading With Values Award. The award, named for Sigma Nu, is designed to recognize one chapter annually who demonstrates exceptional attention to emphasizing their values through leadership.

UNC’s Assistant Dean of Students for Fraternity and Sorority Life, Jenny Levering, stated in a May 2007 letter to the High Council that, "Love, honor and truth were paramount through the Psi Colony expansion process and re-colonization. . . .I could think of no greater way to recognize the student leaders who truly led with values to re-build the Sigma Nu chapter here, than to establish this award. By creating this award and having this colony of men be the first recipients, we hope it will set a high standard for other chapters within our Greek community to also ‘lead with values.’"

Leading With Values
Levering came up with the idea to create the award because she was so impressed with the colony, the men they selected, their ability to lead with direction and their willingness to come to her with questions. "This was the first time we’ve seen the values-movement in chapters on our campus. I wanted to give them a pat on the back to keep going and strive for excellence," she says. She surprised the newly initiated chapter members by presenting them with the Leading With Values Award at their re-chartering banquet on April 21st.

Chris Healy, Sigma Nu’s current Director of Expansion, explains that our values are the core of who we are. "It’s the one thing that remains true. If we remain committed to our values, we will always be a great fraternity," he emphasizes. "The values of love, honor and truth are timeless and consistent with our opposition to hazing." He further explains that any question or challenge a chapter is facing can be resolved by refocusing on our values. He says it’s the reason he enjoys expansion work. "You get to start from scratch and recruit men who subscribe to those same values and ideals. Anyone who doesn’t, it’s probably not the organization for them," he shares.

The Pilot Program
Russ Hammond, Director of Expansion and Recruitment at the time, led the Fraternity’s advance preparations for Psi’s expansion effort. Hammond was responsible for initial alumni development efforts and communication with the university and IFC until the project was confirmed to move forward.

Healy was a consultant during the expansion and was on the ground at UNC as soon as the decision was finalized. He served as staff director for the expansion and re-colonization process. The recruitment effort began in early 2006, took five weeks and yielded 23 colony members. The remainder of the semester was dedicated to training new members how to start a fraternity from the ground up. The semester-long expansion effort was unique in that traditional expansions occur over 6-8 weeks.

Healy explained the reasons behind the pilot program: "The more time we spend with a colony up front, the more influence we can have on their development and the more guidance and support we can offer. In a fully functioning chapter, new members are expected to learn fraternity operations in 8-11 weeks. A colony has no infrastructure and no fundamental knowledge. They are essentially learning how to run a small business. It doesn’t make sense to do that in two weeks’ time," he says. Levering agrees saying, "It was the greatest thing they could have done to have someone here for a semester." In fact, she now encourages other fraternities and sororities who wish to expand to UNC that this is the model of choice for a successful expansion.

Since early 2006, the Fraternity has continued to employ the semester-long expansion effort, completing six projects this academic year. Next year the same strategy will be in place for eight planned expansion projects. Afterwards, staff members will re-evaluate the program to determine its effectiveness over time.

In any re-colonization effort, Healy says the single most important factor is alumni support, and even with the extended staff presence on campus, the effort at UNC was no exception. "We had some remarkable alumni from Psi Chapter and other chapters who were great supporters of this effort," he shares. At least twenty men were involved and over half of them were present on a day-to-day basis. "Without that assistance it’s impossible to have a successful colonization," says Healy.

The Award
Levering says the Leading With Values Award will be presented, in the form of a trophy, each year at the annual Greek Awards event. She was pleased to be able to honor the Sigma Nu chapter this year. "I continue to be very proud of the work Sigma Nu is doing on our campus. From the leadership and outstanding work Chris Healy did on the national level, to the dedication of alumni on a local level, and the chapter leaders on a chapter level the work you did with this colonization worked! And it worked well," she says.