Following the drop of a Delta Sigma Phi, Chapman has welcomed its newest fraternity, Sigma Chi, this fall. Founded on the basis of friendship, justice and learning, Sigma Chi began their new chapter at Chapman with the new founding class.
“Sigma Chi is very philanthropic and is very campus involved, which is what Chapman looks for,” said junior computer science student Anthony Llchev. “From the start, I could tell Sigma Chi was going to get the spot as a Chapman fraternity because we were so much more established from the start.”
Chapman began the search for a new fraternity last spring semester. After days of interviews, discussions and meetings, Sigma Chi was chosen. However, this wasn’t Sigma Chi’s first time going through the process to join Chapman, as they tried to join in 2015 but later dropped out.
Fraternity life at Chapman encourages students to build connections with the university and be an active member on campus.
“We are based on the principles we were founded with, such as brotherhood and loyalty,” said junior film and television production student Marko Salazar.
Sigma Chi’s biggest philanthropy is to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. They organize a yearly 5K run fundraiser and donate to the institute. In 2021, Sigma Chi donated more than $2.3 million to the Huntsman Foundation.
The recruitment process to pledge Sigma Chi differed from other fraternities since they were just added at Chapman. Since the current Sigma Chi members are the “founding members” at Chapman, they go through a different process that involves learning how to run a fraternity. The recruitment process was held in October and the pledging process took about five weeks, according to Llchev.
“Since it is a new fraternity at Chapman, we are the pledging. We have our class and we have e-learning that goes with it, and then another class. It’s more like how to run a fraternity, not so much so be a member,” said freshman political science student Dylan Mirhashemi.
With 30 students in the pledging class, Sigma Chi plans to be an active community on campus and anticipates their new chapter at Chapman.