Mr. Shah said that he had been interested in Greek Life prior to his acceptance of admission to Bryant University. Mr. Shah recalled, “Last year, I knew that I wanted to join or create a fraternity when I came on campus”, adding that he had not felt himself to be a perfect fit to his current options on campus. Keeping his goal in mind, however, Mr. Shah began talking to other students on campus about their interest in supporting a new fraternity’s installment on campus. Mr. Ferreira, he found, was especially interested in being a part of the potential new fraternity. Mr. Ferreira said that he, too, had been attracted to the Greek Life program. “I had some knowledge about fraternities since my brother was in the process of the ‘New Member Education’ program for Theta Delta Chi at UMass Dartmouth,” Mr. Ferreira noted, “…so Shah asked me to help him start a fraternity, after looking for initial support.”

 

Support was rallied from fourteen other interested Bryant students, namely: Emiliano Omeri and Tiago Machado, both of the graduating class of 2010, and Justin Hoffner, Brian Donovan, Justin Doyle, Ned Fish, Ryan Letourneau, Zach McMahon, Michael Monaghan, Alexander Morse, Corey Nocera, George Vasvatekis, Dan Tothill, and Dexter King, each of the class of 2011. Once the pair was decided on starting a new fraternity, they began the initial stages of their research. “Each week, we did huge amounts of research,” Mr. Ferreira recalled. “Last year, all we did was research, research, research on fraternities,” added Mr. Shah. “We needed to know, in general, what Greek Life was all about.”

 

After choosing Sigma Chi as their ideal fraternity, Mr. Ferreira and Mr. Shah said that they began meeting almost weekly with their advisor, Rich Hurley, co-assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement, and Colleen Powers, the Greek Life advisor, to develop a presentation that would prove to Dr. J. Thomas Eakin, the Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs, that their fraternity was distinct from each other fraternity on campus, and that it should be officially recognized.

 

During this time, the pair said that they researched Sigma Chi ad nauseum, describing their work on the presentation as a series of “countless improvements.” Mr. Shah recalled, “The first time I met with Rich Hurley, I had one piece of paper” Mr. Shah also noted that, by the end of the pair’s work, the presentation was approximately 20 pages in length. Having met with Dean Eakin, Mr. Shah and Mr. Ferreira said that they began a series of meetings with each of the fraternities and sororities on campus, many of whom the pair said were imperative to their success in achieving official recognition.

Following extensive presentations to the Interfraternity Council E-Board and the Panhellenic Council E-board, as well as presentations to the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils, Mr. Ferreira and Mr. Shah contacted the Sigma Chi Nationals, the head of the official fraternity. Initially, Mr. Shah said that he spoke to Michael Church, who was Sigma Chi’s director of expansion at the time. Both he and Mr. Ferreira recognized Mr. Church, along with Shawn George (Grand Praetor) and, later, Matt McCartt (Sigma Chi’s newest director of expansion), for “help[ing] us out from Sigma Chi’s side,” providing them the necessary support and information to make their goal a reality.

 

On November 5, nearly a year after Mr. Shah and Mr. Ferreira began to work toward their initial idea, a finalized constitution was approved by Student Senate, making Sigma Chi Rho an official interest group, with an e-board consisting of several aforementioned supporters: Mr. Shah, president, Mr. Ferreira, vice president, Mr. Omeri, secretary, Mr. Fish, New Brother educator, Mr. McMahon, treasurer, and Mr. Nocera and Mr. Donovan, Recruitment Chairmen.