Starting this spring semester, the international fraternity Sigma Chi is returning to WashU and accepting founding fathers. The fraternity has been absent from WashU since 2021 after voluntarily leaving campus due to incurred penalties from the university for violating COVID-19 policies at the time. 

Sigma Chi had a previous chapter at WashU called Tau Tau. During COVID, members of the fraternity attended a fellow student’s graduation party off-campus and also hosted a party, both of which violated university regulations. Robert Westrich, a Grand Praetor for Sigma Chi who oversees Missouri chapters, said that the trouble with the university resulted in Sigma Chi surrendering its charter.

“It was pretty punitive, considering what actually occurred,” Westrich said. “They were not a problem chapter. It was a great group, but yes, they broke a few rules during COVID.”

The Tau Tau chapter had a history of infractions, including hazing pledges and harassing visiting women’s tennis teams, both of which happened about 20 years ago. Ethan Ortiz-Ulibarri, an expansion coordinator for Sigma Chi, said that through the Expect More program, the new chapter would have a strong risk-mitigation plan. 

“The entire goal is to make it better,” Ortiz-Ulibarri said. “I want to have more community service, focus more on academics, [and] more on philanthropy. Really see whatever cracks that had us surrender our charter and learn from those mistakes [to] become better when we come back.”

In fall of 2023, Sigma Chi asked the University to return to campus after their suspension ended, and received approval to do so in fall of 2024. This academic year, WashU invited Sigma Chi to return to campus. The new chapter is starting with no previous Sigma Chi members, instead recruiting founding members who will help the chapter move from a chapter-in-progress to a fully fledged chapter. 

“It’s hard for us to find people, especially when we don’t have brand recognition,” Ortiz-Ulibarri said. “Because we haven’t been here for a couple years, not a lot of people even know that we’re here.”

First-year Benjamin Duke is one of the founding members of Sigma Chi’s new chapter. Duke said he initially became interested in Sigma Chi because of his uncle, who is a Sigma Chi alumnus.

“When I first looked into it, there [weren’t] a lot of people interested,” Duke said. 

One of the largest fraternities in the United States, Sigma Chi has a robust alumni network, leading all fraternities and sororities in number of alumni. It also has large philanthropy efforts, having contributed $5 million to cancer research causes within the 2024-25 academic year. Ortiz-Ulibarri said that Sigma Chi values influence the recruitment process for founding fathers.

“We don’t just recruit just because we want to recruit and we want to hit our quotas,” Ortiz-Ulibarri said. “We have a standard, but every single student that we’ve met with so far has been exceptional.”

Sigma Chi extended bids to founding members 3 weeks ago, and hosted its first logistical meeting on Monday, March 16. Pledges recently received their Norman Shield books and Sigma Chi pins as evidence of their initiation.

“They have the chance to have their name solidified into Sigma Chi history on their charter as the official founders of the Washington University Sigma Chi chapter,” Ortiz-Ulibarri said.

Editor’s note: This article was edited on April 19th at 12:42 pm to reflect that Sigma Chi asked to return to campus in fall of 2023.