Page 1 - Gamma Mu News - Winter 2010-11

Gamma mu News

Gamma Mu Chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity | University of Illinois | Winter 2011
Alumni Relations Office | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366

In This Issue: Sigma Nu Recruits Alumni Spotlight:
Largest Fall Pledge Class Jim (James) Ferguson
Pledge Class Update ....... 1 In 16 Years

Alumni Spotlight ............ 1 amma Mu alum Jim
Chapter Facility News ..... 2 by: Jeremy Palgen GM 1674, Recruitment Chairman, (James) Ferguson
Pursuit of Excellence Scholar 2009 G’82 was about 10
Scholarship Recipient ..... 3 years old when he first went
Homecoming ................... 3 he Active Chapter is happy to report that the inside the Sigma Nu house. The
fall 2010 pledge class of 15 men is the single place was one of the stranger
Spotlight Continued ........ 4 Tlargest fall pledge class since 1994. And the things he had seen, and he
recruitment year is not over, not by a long shot. We wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Ferguson, now Corporate Vice
Visit us on the web at: intend to recruit at least 10 more men this spring in President, Customer & Business Transactions, FedEx
keeping with our goal to become a 60-man house by
www.sigmanuillinois.com the fall of 2012 and a 75-man house by fall 2013. Corporation, was there with his father, Dr. W.A.
Next fall, we are going to beat the 20-man pledge Ferguson, a math professor at the Univ. of Illinois,
class record set in the fall of 1985. The alumni team who for more than 40 years was Sigma Nu/Gamma
of Rich Byrne GM 1358 and David von Nirschl GM Mu chapter advisor.
1349 has held that record long enough! They have That morning Dr. Ferguson had stopped by due
challenged us to beat it and we will, just wait. to complaints following a particularly spirited party.
We are so grateful to alumni who have supported As the elder Ferguson talked with the Commander
us with contributions to our “recruitment through behind closed doors, young Jim sat alone in a main
scholarship” program, which is otherwise known as room taking in the site.
the “Pursuit of Excellence Scholarship” (POE). This The kitchen was a mess from a run on late-night
year we received 135 applicants; three of them are now snacks. Bread, peanut butter, jam and hot dog buns
Sigma Nu’s. In addition, these POE pledges recruited were strewn across the counters. But what really
their own friends into the current pledge class. In all, caught his attention was the giant moose head hanging
six members of the current pledge class are directly or in the living room. The animal’s antlers were draped
indirectly tied to this important program. with toilet paper and a cigarette extended from its
The pride that the alumni and the actives have in mouth.
the Sigma Nu house is apparent. Sigma Nu looks like “I remember it was about 9 o’clock on a Saturday
no other fraternity on campus. It is a home, and a or Sunday morning and it was as quiet as it could be,”
mansion at that. At Sigma Nu, we have alumni who said Jim. “Shortly after we got there, the Commander
care about the development of the chapter as well as came out in his boxers to do an all-house cleanup.
the individual members. We have a brotherhood that I thought the moose was cool, but I remember also
has transcended generations. We are proud to be a part thinking that I didn’t know people lived like this.
of the rebuilding effort for this wonderful fraternity. There was a lot of disorder and chaos. They had one
We want heck of a party. I didn’t have much context for it and
the alumni thought it was a little weird. My father was very calm.
to know how He rarely got upset. His attitude was boys will be boys,
committed we but you have to get this fixed up and cleaned up.”
are to rebuilding Several years later Jim pledged the fraternity. It
Sigma Nu. We wasn’t something he planned to do, necessarily. His
know the alumni father, incidentally, had little to do with his decision
have a strategy to join. It was his mother, Evalyn, who pressed him
to restore our into Sigma Nu. “My mother had seen the relationships
chapter house. We, the undergraduates, have a strategy my father had due to the fraternity through the years,”
to become one of the strongest fraternities at Illinois. said Ferguson, adding that Dr. Ferguson had joined
For every generation of Sigma Nu’s, there is a Sigma Nu as a young man at Missouri Valley College.
destiny. For our generation, we have made a choice, “While my mother recognized that relationships
to take this fraternity forward, to seek a new measure could be formed through other fraternities, she felt
of greatness for it, and to preserve it for generations that my father, although silent on the matter, would
to come. be disappointed if I did not pledge Sigma Nu. If he
We thank you for your continued support for us.
Alumni Spotlight, continued on page 4