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Alumni
Meeting 01/30/12
Please mark your calendars for the Annual Sigma
Beta Alumni Association
meeting:
Monday, January 30, 2012
26 Madbury Road
6:00
pm
A Message About Homecoming
2011
From Bob Webster '80
Corporate
President
Sigma Beta Alumni Association
Read about Bob's thoughts on the renovation
efforts, the
team assembled, the plan to get where we need to be and how your
donations will help shape the future brotherhood of Sigma
Beta.
A
Message to the Alumni from the Corporate President
(.pdf)
Sigma Beta
Alumni Directory is Now Online
Sigma Beta Alumni can now reconnect with the house online with the new
Alumni directory. With the $100 yearly contribution of membership dues,
you will be
updated on all the current events occurring with the Sigma Beta Alumni
Members and have access to the Sigma Beta Alumni Directory to search
for
old friends.
Sigma Beta Alumni Directory
Band of
brothers unites to revive a banned fraternity
From NHBR.com
Friday, February 25, 2011
By Michael McCord
UNH alumni and Sigma Beta brothers Tom Moulton and Doug Clark on the
steps of the renovated fraternity house in Durham. (Photo by Michael
McCord)
After the University of New Hampshire kicked the Sigma Beta fraternity
off the Durham campus in the fall of 2008, it appeared to be the end of
the line.
"Truthfully, there was poor oversight from alumni. We weren't paying
attention," said Tom Moulton, a Sigma Beta brother from the 1970s and
chairman of Hampton-based Sleepnet Corp. "The place was totally rotted,
structurally and morally."
The 1921 Georgian-style house had fallen into almost total disrepair,
finances were in disarray and its reputation was seemingly beyond
repair. Sigma Beta had been sanctioned for a stabbing incident in 2006,
cited for hazing and alcohol infractions in the spring of 2008, and in
September 2008, three members were arrested after a drug raid.
"We were on the brink of being extinct," Moulton said.
But what could have been the end for Sigma Beta became the first step
in a unlikely renaissance. After the fraternity was booted off campus,
Moulton and a group of fellow successful fraternity brothers from the
1960s to 1990s came together to begin a total makeover of the
fraternity's physical infrastructure and, more importantly, its
reputation.
It was a quest, Mouton explained, to rehabilitate Sigma Beta's public
reputation and recapture the spirit of philanthropy, academics and
service that was part of the fraternity's founding charter 90 years ago.
"I pledged as a sophomore in 1975, and it was very influential, very
defining moment in my life," Moulton said. "It had a life-lasting
impact.
Every single one of my long-term friendships came from my time at Sigma
Beta."
In addition to a difficult $1.7 million major renovation project,
another successful fraternity brother said it was time to jettison the
popular "Animal House" image of toga parties and debauchery.
"The popular model of a fraternity has become outdated. We know that
the movie 'Animal House' provides the idea that fraternities are about
nothing but drinking and parties," said Doug Clark, a 1979 UNH alum and
chief executive of Newmarket-based New England Footwear. "Things had
gotten so out of control, and we needed to remind ourselves and the
community why fraternities can be such a good thing, about why kids
walk up these steps (to the house) in the first place. We needed to
spend more time and effort redefining the fraternity of the future."
'Walking the walk'
The rebirth of Sigma Beta began in the fall of 2008, when a 19-member
task force was created with the support of more than 80 former brothers.
A fund-raising drive was initiated to raise $1.7 million - an amount
that Moulton said was no small feat as the economic downturn made
getting a bank loan a difficult prospect.
But Moulton, who also heads a construction business, and the band of
fraternity brothers - which also includes Bob Taft, chief executive at
Boston Restaurant Associates, and Bob Webster, managing partner at
Hodges Ward Elliott, the Atlanta-based hotel investment firm - made it
a personal entrepreneurial mission.
Clark, who is the alumni board chairman, said that the brothers
voluntarily put in hundreds of hours with plans to put in many more and
raised more than $500,000. Moulton leveraged his banking relationships,
his own construction business and the human capital to complete the
project to gut and remodel the building.
When the school year ended in May 2009, demolition and rebuilding began
and was completed in June. The alumni had an official grand opening
during Homecoming Weekend in October.
During a recent tour of the new Sigma Beta House, Clark and Moulton
recited a lengthy checklist of modern alterations and additions that
include entirely remade rooms, new bathrooms, electrical wiring and
high-tech sound and video security systems. Moulton said the entire
project is on schedule to be paid off in five years and the potential
fraternity revival will be in strong financial shape.
The house on Madbury Road in Durham is occupied now by another
fraternity on a two-year lease. The more difficult task for Sigma Beta,
Clark acknowledged, will be to rebuild the trust of the community and
UNH officials to get removed from permanent suspension status. One
advantage, Moulton said: it's a locally chaptered fraternity, which
will allow them to have greater oversight.
Clark said they are taking the small and necessary steps to show that
"we are walking the walk" of rehabilitation. One of the biggest issues
Sigma Beta now faces is redefining the culture of a 20th century
fraternity, Clark said, to meet the needs of current students while
abiding by stricter rules in today's college life and blending the
foundations of the fraternity's specific standards and ideals.
He said they have plans for mentoring programs and scholarship programs
well beyond the building project.
The Sigma Beta task force has raised money to sponsor a class at the
Whittemore School of Business and Economics. Clark said there is a wide
range of potential volunteer projects the fraternity could take part
in, including providing morning crossing guards for local schools.
He said if current trends continue, Sigma Beta could be restored as
early as the fall of 2012.
Alumni will be heavily involved in the recruiting process for new
pledges that will fit into the new fraternity paradigm - and will
remain involved for years to come, he said.
"We are pretty adamant about this," Clark said.
Sigma Beta
Rebuilding Efforts
Sigma
Beta alumni are encouraged to pledge again. The
house has been
rebuilt into the most modern Fraternity house in New England.
We
need your financial support to help us maintain the house and pay down
debt. Please get involved. There is a plan in place. We need you to act.
We
need you to contribute in one or more
of five ways:
Donations: Call
to Arms | Phistos Kai
| Buy
Your Room | Beta For Life
| Alumni
Dues
|
