Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu is a social, values-based fraternity that was founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1869 and established at Columbia in 1908 as the Delta Gamma chapter. Sigma Nu's brownstone is located at 556 West 113th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway), close to McBain and across the street from Watt. The chapter boasts a highly diverse returning membership of 50 brothers for fall 2012, and has initiated nearly 1,200 Columbia men throughout its storied history on campus.

Fraternity members are involved in a wide variety of academic, extracurricular, pre-professional, and athletic communities at CU, with brothers serving as leaders in dozens of Columbia student groups. Sigma Nu's primary ambition is the expansion of Greek Life's mandate beyond just social and philanthropy events (although the chapter certainly remains committed to both). Towards that end, the fraternity has organized a number of unique initiatives, including partnerships with start-ups interested in launching at CU, the Columbia Sigma Nu Historical Initiative, and cooperative campus programming with student groups such as the Columbia Iranian Students Association, Orchesis, GlobeMed, and Youth for Debate.

In addition to its characteristic focus on broadening fraternity activity, Sigma Nu has a rapport for staying true to the core fraternal values of brotherhood and brother development. "We are not a yacht club" is a favorite phrase, and the fraternity supports meaningful brotherhood bonding through activities including camping, sports games attendance, and bowling, as well as the personal growth of its brothers through participation in workshops, study sessions, and professional networking events.

Awards

Sigma Nu is in an exciting period of success and rapid growth. In recognition of its tremendous progress, Columbia's Sigma Nu chapter was awarded the following awards in the 2011-2012 academic year:

National Awards

• Excellence in Personal Values & Brotherhood Development
• 25% Increase in Manpower
• Most Improved Chapter

Campus Awards

• Service Award
• Philanthropy Award
• Campus Involvement Award

Notable Past Awards

• 2009, Most Outstanding Chapter in the Columbia Fraternal system
• 2009, Sigma Nu earned several awards for the outstanding size of their recruiting class.
• 2010, Again named Most Outstanding Chapter

Community Service & Programmed Events

The chapter has raised about $13,000 each year for the past two years for philanthropic causes. In addition, on average, each brother has donated about 30 hours per year to community service through Sigma Nu. Aside from its philanthropy events, Sigma Nu hosts a wide variety of programming meant to develop our brothers, meaningful engage student communities, and build Columbia pride.

2011 - 2012 Events

• Two CEO's Unplugged Event
• Columbia Sigma Nu Historical Initiative
• DoUDeal Greek Entrepreneurship Event
• Whoot Launch
• Orchesis Night of Dance
• Participation in Mr. Fraternity and the SDT Talent Show
• Persian Culture Night
• Pencils of Promise Campus Campaign
• Take Back the Night
• Youth for Debate Karaoke Night
• GlobeMed Trivia Night
• McNally Plaza Park Clean Up
• Safe Horizon Anti-Domestic Violence Bracelet Sale
• Day of Service (Gandhi Day)
• Columbia World Cup
• Columbia Community Outreach
• Project HAPPY Fundraiser and Coaching
• American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
• Social events of note (yearly): Highlighter Party, White Party, Wine & Cheese (fall formal), Booze Cruise (spring formal), mixers

2010 - 2011 Events

• Gift Of Life Foundation Bone Marrow Drive
• GrowNYC Stop ‘N’ Swap
• Youth for Debate Karaoke Night Fundraiser
• Columbia Community Outreach
• Columbia/Barnard Hillel Bone Marrow Drive
• Spring Clothing Exchange
• American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
• Project HAPPY Fundraiser and Coaching

Brotherhood Information

Current Membership: 50 incoming students in Fall 2012, graduated 14 seniors in Spring 2012.

Membership Restrictions: None; not affiliated with any special interest, ethnicity, athletic team, etc

Historic Membership: ~1200 initiated chapter brothers

Diversity:

• Hispanic American: 10%

• African American: 12%

• Middle Eastern American: 4%

• Asian American: 14%

• Indian American: 4%

• International: 6%

Campus leadership positions held by brothers (currently or in past academic year): President/Publisher of The Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia College Student Council Vice President of Funding, Ivy Council Vice President, President of Club Tennis, Vice President of Youth for Debate, Vice President of Inter-Fraternity Council, Philanthropy Chair of the Inter-Greek Council, Treasurer of the Columbia International Relations Forum, Fencing Team Captain, Swimming & Diving Team Captains, President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Vice President of Jiu Jitsu Club, Director of Development & Outreach for Spectator, Co-President of Columbia UNICEF, Co-founder of Columbia Wieghtlifting Society, Columbia Community Outreach Projects Committee Chair, radio programmer at WKCR, Raw Elementz Executive Board Member, music premiered by CU Jazz Composers Collective, HEAL teacher, Moneythink teacher, King's Spear co-founders

What brothers did during summer 2012: Whumbly.com & Rotunda Group co-founders, formed a band (the Morningsiders), Summer Associate at Morgan Stanley, Summer Associate at AOL Ventures, Intern at Christie's, Carbon Sequestration researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, NASA researcher, Summer Associate at Bank of Tokyo, Summer Associate at TerraVerde Capital, Summer Intern at Capgemini Consulting, Associate in Columbia's accounting division, Obama campaign organizer, Earth Institute researcher, psychology research at Yale University, Business development associate at Cater2.me, business development associate at Pixafy, Fullbridge Business Program participant, Marines training camp, development intern at A&E networks, Ambulatory Care Profitability Intern at Cardinal, Creative Intern at G2 Worldwide, Research Assistant at Intergroup Relations and Diversity Lab, Government Affairs Intern at Novo Nordisk A/S, scored in the 99th percentile of the MCAT.

Majors: Sigma Nu is represented across GS, CC, and SEAS - brothers are majoring in a wide range of disciplines.

Leadership:

• President: Alex Smyk

• Vice-President: Magnus Ferguson

• Treasurer: Harry Stephenson

• Secretary: Alan Seltzer

• Candidate Education Chairman: Michael Laracuente

• Recruitment Chairman: Shawn Patel

• Social Chairman: Nehemiah Loury

• Philanthropy Chairman: Moyo Ajayi

• Faculty Adviser: Eric Wakin, Lehman Curator for American History & Curator of Manuscripts (Sigma Nu, CC, '88)

Major Ongoing Projects

In addition to the fraternity's social, philanthropy, professional, and member development events, Sigma Nu is pursuing several long-term initiatives.

Home Renovation

The fraternity began a major home renovation campaign in spring 2012, with a projected completion date in late fall 2012.

Historical Initiative

In summer 2012, Sigma Nu began collecting Columbia-related historical items and will be displaying them in its brownstone for all to enjoy beginning in fall 2012. The fraternity will continue its collection and is planning to host a lecture series on Columbia's history in its brownstone.

Highlights include:

• Harper's New Monthly Feature, "Columbia College," from Nov. 1884 (original); details College history during and after American Revolution

• American Magazine Feature, "The New Columbia," from 1897 (original); details the move of the College uptown, with engravings of early Low, Havemeyer, and the Boat House

• Announcement of the Construction of Earl Hall, from 1902 (original); small poster marking the occasion with congratulations and information

• Harper's Weekly Engraving of Madison Ave & School of Mines Campus, from 1885 (original); full page etching of Columbia before the move uptown

Trivia

• It is widely rumored that Julia Stiles once spent the night in Room 33.
• The goal post from the streak-snapping Columbia-Princeton football game, from 1988, where the Columbia Lions came out victorious over the Princeton Tigers 17-14, resides in the backyard.
• In the 80s and earlier the poorly insulated kitchen was actually a poorly insulated single - for this reason it was known as the "cheese locker".
• In 1984, when Bozo the Clown pretended to run for president to raise opposition to the incumbent Reagan he gave a well received speech at Columbia University. His 'Body Guards' were all Sigma Nu brothers (dressed in suits, sun glasses, and round red noses), as some brothers at the time were members of a band called 'The Nasty Bozos'.
• Early 1960's: A Sigma Nu scales Penn football stadium during sold out game in order to openly snatch the high-flying Penn flag. He then dropped it down to a group of waiting Columbia students below, and the flag made its way back to NYC. It is believed that the band kept it.

External Links

• Sigma Nu national website

• Columbia Sigma Nu chapter website

• Columbia chapter Twitter handle