Phi Sigma Nu, the only national American Indian fraternity, has taken significant steps to create a new chapter at Dartmouth this spring, provided there is sufficient student interest, according to Derek Oxendine, a member of Phi Sigma Nu's Chief Council, and Fouad Saleet, Dartmouth's associate director of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies.
Although only two students attended an informational session about the fraternity on Thursday, Saleet noted that some of the potential members interested in joining Phi Sigma Nu might be freshmen and thus unable to participate in the rush process until this fall. He added that he thought the turnout was low because upperclassman who might have been interested in the organization may have already pledged another fraternity.
"We're shooting for four to six men to get started, at least," Saleet said. "If there's enough interest, we'll get started this term. If not, we'll put off expansion until the fall."
Whereas some fraternities expand their membership through a rush process, Phi Sigma Nu operates using a "very formalized" admissions process, involving GPA, service and leadership requirements, as well as a formal application, Saleet explained.
The process to bring Phi Sigma Nu to campus began a few years ago, when several students approached Saleet and expressed their interest in establishing a Native American fraternity, he said.
Dartmouth would be the first private institution and the first institution in the Northeast to have a Phi Sigma Nu chapter, Oxendine said. New chapters of Phi Sigma Nu are considered provisional for their first year, when the members create a constitution and bylaws. After that year, they can apply to be an officially recognized chapter.
"Dartmouth would be our first Ivy school," Oxendine said. "It's definitely something we're proud of."
Oxendine said that the establishment of Phi Sigma Nu would "reaffirm Dartmouth's purpose" and the "commitment made" to educate American Indian youth when the College was founded.
"We agreed to approach the issue this spring based on the College and the national's timeline and availability of resources," Saleet said.
Although Oxendine said he is excited about the steps being taken toward the creation of a Dartmouth chapter, he said he regrets that the students who originally began this process have graduated.
"It's kind of unfortunate that those men that originally wanted the organization aren't there anymore," he said, "But they were still able to encourage interest in the other students [at Dartmouth]."
Phi Sigma Nu was founded in 1996 at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and was officially recognized as a Greek organization by the university a year later. It has since expanded to include chapters at five additional colleges, according to the fraternity's web site. None of the chapters currently have physical plants, and Oxendine said he does not expect any existing chapters to gain a physical plant in the near future due to a lack of funding.
Phi Sigma Nu is dedicated to the founders' vision of promoting leadership, individuality, community, honesty, wisdom, pride and unity, Oxendine said.
"We began with the vision of having a brotherhood for American Indian men from different walks in terms of nations to help them through the struggles they were having in higher education at the time," he said.
The fraternity draws its members from 25 different American Indian tribes and nations as well as from a diverse group of ethnicities, including African American, Caucasian, Korean and Mexican.
"Any man, no matter what religion or ethnicity, if you can appreciate and understand what those principles mean to us, then this is an organization that's for you," Oxendine said.
Saleet stressed that his office is helping to organize informational sessions and trying to ensure that students have the option to join an American Indian fraternity, but that students need to take initiative.
"It's up to the students to make this option a reality," he said.