![]() With significant perseverance, the fraternity prevailed while many other chapters struggled. The SigEps of Iowa State were faced with numerous challenges in recruitment, finances, and operations. Throughout the seventies and eighties Sigma Phi Epsilon maintained and improved its role as a leader on the Iowa State campus.Īll was going well until the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020. Iowa Beta controlled many campus activities and almost every member was involved.ĭiligence in the face of adversity had in the past, and did once again, bring Sigma Phi Epsilon back to the standing it has always deserved. The construction crew changed their plans and resumed remodeling the three man rooms that exist today.īetween the years of 19 Sigma Phi Epsilon was very strong internally and externally. Rumor has it, although she denies it, that Mom McKone had the remodeling stopped single-handedly, because she saw that four man rooms would be far too crowded. During the late 50's carpenters began remodeling our study rooms from the original two man rooms to four man rooms. Arguments were constant over who was going to get to live in the fraternity house the next semester.ĭuring the summer of 1952, Sigma Phi Epsilon added on to its kitchen and expanded, adding the housemothers quarters. Many SigEps, to their dissatisfaction, had to live in apartments. 228 Gray ave provided housing for undergraduate women until the end of the war.Īfter the war, Iowa States enrollment reached a record high, Sigma Phi Epsilon quickly grew in size to a 100 man roster. During the war, there were more women enrolled at Iowa State than it had room for. Adding to this burden, a fire broke out on the third floor of the house in the Spring of 1943, during finals week. To solve the problem, the Alumni Board made rental arrangements with the college to provide housing for women. There were not enough SigEps left to keep the house going. The house size continued to increase until World War II when there were roughly 75-80 men.ĭuring the fall of 1942, two-thirds of the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon left for World War II. The men of Iowa Beta started becoming more and more involved on campus. In 1935 the house was nearly full with 30 men living in (the house at this time consisted of only two-man study rooms). The next few years brought hope for the struggling SigEps. Just as the building weathered the storm, so to did its residents. In the fall of 1932 Sigma Phi Epsilon was only 20 strong. New members are still asked to get the firewood to remember this event. Of all the pledge duties during this period, the most important was to acquire wood for the fireplace. ![]() There wasn't any money for fuel oil bills the first few winters of the depression, so the men lived in the living room only. To keep the banks from closing down Iowa Beta, the Alumni Board had to give almost all of its land to the bank. With the Great Depression of the 30's, Iowa Beta, as well as other houses on campus began to go into debt. ![]() This final, grand house is a fitting testament to Iowa Beta's great fraternity. In 1929, the house that Iowa State SigEp occupies today was designed by Amos Emory - the same architect who designed Sigma Kappa's sorority house. There were not more than 20 active members until much later in Iowa Beta's existence. The number of SigEps on campus was fairly small for the first few years of its existence. Soon afterwards, Iowa Beta acquired its first house the location of which was on Welch Avenue, where Pi Kappa Phi fraternity resides today. Iowa Beta originated on campus as the "Aristoclub." The chapter became formally chartered from the Sigma Phi Epsilon National fraternity on April 20, 1916, becoming the fortieth local chapter of the fraternity - which today, has over 290.
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