By: Adler Igalsbe, Reporter for Indiana Statesman
Posted: January 30, 2015

 After years of being away from Terre Haute, the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is back on Indiana State  University’s campus and is looking to re-establish their previously existing chapter.

 Delta Sigma Phi has a long history, dating back to 1899 when a group of men at the City College of New York  created it. The fraternity is now a national organization made up of 106 chapters located in different parts of  the United States.

The fraternity came to Indiana State in 1990 and stuck around until 2008. Now, seven years later, three men are helping start the organization back up. Kenny Traber, Cal Beneze and Kirby Oscar, all working for the Delta Sigma Phi National Headquarters, are getting the foundation of the organization settled in. Kenny Traber, Senior Recruitment and Development Specialist, said all his teammates, as well as him, attended different universities but are now working together to bring the fraternity back to ISU.

“We’re not students here on campus. Kirby attended Appalachian State University, Cal is from Arizona State University and I am from Georgia College and State University,” Traber said. “We joined the fraternity at our respective universities and were recruited to work on the National Headquarters staff. We currently work at the National Headquarters and were invited by Indiana State University to come and start a chapter here.” Cal Beneze, New Chapter Development Coordinator, said ISU asked them to start the organization during the spring semester and the three men have been hard at work since the first day of classes on recruiting men to join the fraternity.

“They decided this spring was the time they wanted us to come. The first day of the spring semester, I was here with Kenny. We were just laying some basic groundwork for when we all got here so everything was already set up and running smoothly,” Beneze said. “The number of men isn’t what we’re necessarily looking for,” Oscar said. “We are not focused on the quantity of men that we recruit, we are focused on the quality,” The members who join the fraternity this semester get the opportunity to be the founding fathers of Delta Sigma at ISU, just like Oscar and Beneze were at their universities.

“Our philanthropy is the American Red Cross. There are 12 different ways to support the American Red Cross. People usually think blood drives, but some things that we really like to do are CPR certification training, disaster relief training and first responder training,” Traber said. “A group of men are able to provide a lot of service in times of need, so we determined that American Red Cross had opportunities for men of action, such as men in Delta Sig, who will take that action.”

“If we recruit well here, there will be an option that we could look to find a house. It’s not something when we’re recruiting the men that we actively push because there are a lot of other things to focus on,” he said. “I always like to say, ‘the house is step 101 and we’re on step 1.’ We are not big fans of housing requirements. We don’t think we should be forcing people to live in a place but it’s a possibility for the future if the group wants to make that happen.” As with any other fraternity, there are rules that need to be followed.

“Our main expectation for the men is that they continue with our national reputation in terms of diverse membership. We’re the first nonsectarian fraternity and throughout our history, we’ve really prided ourselves on the diversity of our members,” Traber said. “Equally as important is campus involvement outside the fraternity. And lastly, scholarships and academics are also very important because after all, they are students first and are involved with other things after that.”