2006 Accreditation Report

by Adam Van Dam

     Every year all fraternities and sororities must prepare an Accreditation Report which is presented to a panel of five people. These people range from The Dean of Students, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, Greek Life Coordinator, Vice Provost, to a Young Greek alumnus. The information we provide covers scholarship, leadership, citizenship, partnership, and stewardship. The board reviews the presentation and report, ranks each house in these areas, gives an overall performance grade, and gives suggestions for improvement. Recently we received the results of our 2006-2007 accreditation report.     In the area of scholarship, we did not perform as we had aimed. Despite the less than stellar performance in grades, the committee stated that, “Sigma Alpha Mu seems to be heading in a positive direction with scholarship.” Changes have already been implemented for this semester to encourage better academic performance with mandatory study hours for all brothers currently living in the fraternity house. Overall we were rated to be a bronze chapter in the area of scholarship.

    Leadership is one of our better areas. We were recognized as being active with Interfraternity Council and Order of Omega, as well as working well with the Office of Student Leadership Development. As a result we were classified as a silver chapter for leadership.

    For citizenship, we were applauded for tutoring students on a weekly basis, participating in adopt-a-highway in honor of our late fraternity brother, Rich Schuman ‘04, and organizing Chow Down for Charity. We were categorized as silver.

    Partnership is our strongest area. We were recognized as having strong relationships with other Greek groups and our alumni. The Sigma Kapper is another positive aspect of our partnership which keeps alumni up to date that helped us to earn Gold.

    In stewardship, we were commended for having a good relationship with nationals and for being active in intramurals. We were classified as bronze in the area of stewardship.
    Overall we were considered to be a Silver chapter. Out of the 21 fraternities that were reviewed, only 3 finished higher. We are proud to be a silver chapter, however, we will strive to achieve gold next semester, and are putting the necessary plans together to do so.