The UA Sigma Chi fraternity is arranging to build a new fraternity house for its members by fall 2014.
The fraternity has not had its own house since 2003. Construction for the new house, which will be located on First Street and Vine Avenue, will begin in August.
The budget for the new Sigma Chi fraternity house is within the range of $3 million to $4 million. Sigma Chi has been fundraising for this project for the last seven years and now, within the last 60 days of campaigning, has officially reached its goal.
The lease has already been signed for the plot of land where the house will be located and the fraternity only has a few more meetings with the school to get final approval on plans for the house.
Chuck Colton, the house corporation president for Sigma Chi, said the new house will be reminiscent of the Santa Barbara, Spanish-style building that was built for the fraternity in 1923.
The interior will be more modern, with the same dining facilities and full kitchen as in other fraternities. The new house will also have bedrooms for 36 men.
Active members of Sigma Chi, who are currently renting a house from Kappa Sigma, will have to leave by May 15. Kappa Sigma, who left the campus in 2009 due to code of conduct issues, will not officially move back into the house until August.
Johanne Ives, the assistant dean of students for Fraternity and Sorority Programs, said that since the UA doesn’t own any of the properties, they cannot take a house away from a sorority or fraternity. However, a fraternity or sorority can decide to sell or rent its house if the university no longer recognizes it, in which case it must regain its charter by recolonizing and going through the UA to become officially chartered again.
“As part of our new efforts we are now requiring all members to sign a code of conduct release that enables the Dean of Students Office to provide semester code of conduct violation reports to us on our members. While this is an internal issue and we know that students will still make mistakes, at least now the undergraduate officers and advisors can more immediately deal with any behavior issues,” said Matt Noble, the vice president of the Kappa Sigma Educational Foundation of Arizona and house corporation director, in an email.
Until Sigma Chi’s new house is built, Hunter Curtis, president of Sigma Chi and a finance and entrepreneurship senior, said that all of the members who were living in the house will need to find off-campus housing for the next year.
Buddy Cheek, vice president of Sigma Chi and an economics junior said he suspects some people will drop out of the fraternity when they realize they won’t be getting their own house next year, but that the ones who stay will have a stronger bond within the brotherhood.
“Having a house has a lot of benefits, but not having a house, we will be able to reevaluate ourselves as a chapter,” Cheek said. “The things we want to accomplish will be at the forefront and all the guys in the new house with us will be there for the right reasons.”
