Maintaining The Brotherhood: State of the House Corporation Homecoming 2022

Knox College’s Old Main

By Jim Saranteas (Δθ 1026)

Another year removed from the deadliest pandemic in world history, Sigma Nu, Delta Theta Chapter saw the return of several of its brothers to the Knox College campus, and the Sigma Nu house. Besides the Class of 1972 celebrating their 50 year anniversary, Delta Theta also welcomed back several other of its alumni:

Paul Crawford (’96)

Fiore D’Orazio (’92)

Paul Nijensohn (’92)

Michael Dyer (’67)

Steve Fouts (’91)

Bob Gillespie (’90)

Don Gingold (’81)

Tyreal Haywood (’22)

Jeremiah Holt (’01)

Dave Jesuit (’91)

Eric Langston (’07)

Mike Mokosiak (’91)

Mike Petitti (’91)

Eric Richrath (’92)

Jim Saranteas (’91)

Steve Spaide (’86)

Al Schmitt (’68)

Jeff Sutton (’82)

Jim Saranteas, Steve Fouts, David Jesuit, Mike Petiti, Mike Mokosiak, Fiore D’Orazio, Paul Nijensohn, Aaron McEvoy

Notably, during Homecoming weekend, Brother Bob Gillespie (’91, Δθ 1001) was awarded a Knox Service Award in recognition of outstanding volunteer service benefiting Knox College. Bob has been instrumental in the Start-Up Term having served and mentored more than 100 Knox students since 2015.

Besides the House Corporation Board meeting once a month, another major Delta Theta Alumni activity has been the monthly Alumni Zoom meetings. By taking advantage of the technology, it has brought Brothers together who would likely not be able to connect given the geographical distances that separate so many of us. The Zoom meetings helped raise $600 for the expenses incurred at Homecoming. The next Alumni Zoom meeting is scheduled for December 8, 2022, at 5:30pm CST. The Zooms last about an hour or so. Even if you can make it just to check in for five, ten, or fifteen minutes, please come out and see who attends. Many new relationships and connections have started through the Zoom meetings, between alumni and with active brothers, that would never have been possible in the past.

The Board is pleased to report that Sigma Nu still maintains a strong presence on the Knox College campus. The current physical house has a lease that extends into 2025. Within the past year, Knox College explored putting Delta Theta Chapter into a new house. The House Corporation is pleased to announce that the Chapter will be moving into what many Alums remember as the former Phi Delta Theta House located at the southwest corner of Brooks and West Street. The current House is in the middle of West Street, across from the loading dock to the quad. (College map here)

The old Phi Delta House is in a much nicer condition than the current Sigma Nu house, and much larger. It has several options for a Chapter Meeting room and can hold more resident brothers. Delta Theta will coordinate the move into the new house, which is expected in the early fall of 2023. The House Corporation is working with the college on negotiating a new lease for brothers living at the house.

One of the potential sites for a new house was where this year’s Homecoming Alumni meeting took place, at the northwest corner of West Knox Street and West Street. This will likely be an ongoing project for the next five to ten years. All alumni are encouraged to participate in it where they can, whether it be through volunteering or financially. Alumni donations are accepted here.

Under the Delta Theta House Corporation By-laws, elections were held. Fiore D’Orazio (’92) was nominated and unanimously elected to be the newest member of Delta Theta House Corporation. Also, nominated and elected unanimously were current House Corporation board members: Aaron McEvoy, Eric Langston, Jim Saranteas, Asif Ahmed, Paul Crawford, Steve Spaide, and Al Schmitt.

Veteran Alumnus Al Schmitt (’68), who has attended fifty-four Homecomings since graduating from Knox College, closed out the meeting by recalling one of their fondest memories as a Brother of Sigma Nu. He remembered as a freshman walking around near the Founder’s Lounge when suddenly all these “old people” came out of the room. He remembered them as being “older than my grandparents.”

These Knox College Alums, members of the class of 1914, then began talking to him. They told Al that when they were at Knox, the Beta Theta Pi House had just been built and everyone was nervous about World War I. What amazed Al in reminiscing about this conversation today in 2022 was that these Alums were concerned about issues of social justice back then, just like we were in the late 60’s, and just like we are concerned about today. They were concerned about health problems related to polio and tuberculosis, like we are now with Covid. They also had many of the same concerns about the economy back then as we do now. Al reminded us that we are not alone, and that people have been through this before and will continue to go through it after us.