🎥 Tiger Village dedication includes national award for fraternity

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Another new building was dedicated Saturday morning on the campus of Fort Hays State University.

Tiger Village is the new home to two sororities, Delta Zeta and Sigma Sigma Sigma, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the Second Year Experience Learning Community for sophomore students.

During Saturday’s dedication as part of Fort Hays State homecoming, an announcement was made by Dr. Joey Linn, vice-president for Student Affairs on half of the Sigma Phi Epsilon national headquarters. Reading from a letter, Linn told the crowd the FHSU fraternity has received the national Cornerstone Award from Sigma Phi Epsilon.

“The award is given to both the alumni and the undergraduate chapter together. With the leadership of the university, they found a creative solution to their local housing needs,” Linn read.

“During the 2011 Sig Ep conclave in Phoenix, Arizona, several alumni discussed the situation and realized that the model learning community being developed by the university was closely aligned with Sig Ep’s ‘Balanced Man’ program and residential learning community concept. The alumni were seeking to build a chapter house that would be a substance-free home with a dedicated study space that administrators, alumni, parents and students could all be proud of.

The audience at the dedication of FHSU Tiger Village included local sorority and fraternity members, Greek alumni, and regional and national officers.

“The brothers, many of who happened to be faculty, staff and administrators at this great university, approached the FHSU officials, donors and alumni who also saw the parallels between their goals and the fraternity’s. And so the groups decided to partner to develop a new facility.

Steve Shields, Manhattan, co-chair of FHSU Journey fundraising campaign and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

“A few of the Sig Eps at Fort Hays State that were instrumental in turning this dream into reality were then-university-president Ed Hammond, Foundation President Jason Williby, former director of the Center for Student Involvement Vince Bowhay, and Steve Shields, co-chair of the Journey Campaign.

“Sig Ep is proud to be a valued partner in higher education and is honored to be partnering with Fort Hays State University. It is important to Sig Eps of all ages that new housing projects be substance free and conducive to upholding our core values of virtue, diligence and brotherly love. This facility reinforces that we are not ‘Animal House’, but through the ‘Balanced Man’ program we are building values-driven young men into community leaders,” Linn concluded.

Hammond, Williby and Shields were in the audience for the dedication.

Sophomore Dane Murzy, Denver, is majoring in organizational leadership and is a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon. Murzy spoke to the crowd, saying the new house has made him and his fraternity brothers better.

“Not only has it made us grateful for the generous donations and work that helped make this building a reality, it has helped us live our virtues to a greater extent and therefore become better ‘Balanced Men.’ My brothers in my chapter have shown this by helping with services projects with the sororities in our building, and by being gentlemen when involved in campus activities, among other things.”

Murzy explained some brothers in the house are “tasked with room checks, making sure we are as tidy as we can be,” which drew a gentle laugh from the audience. “And we make sure to remind each other to clean and put away the dishes after each use.” The crowd laughed again. “That last example may need some work,” Murzy admitted with a smile, “but we have constantly been improving.” The Sig Eps also have study nights in the house.

Other student speakers were Raenee Patterson, a Norton sophomore majoring in organizational leadership, who is a member of Delta Zeta; Reilly Frank, Elbert, Colorado, a junior majoring in social work and political science and a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma; and Liberal sophomore Preston Pittman, a criminal justice major, and member of the Second Year Experience Learning Community.

The flags of each Greek community were flying behind the speaker podium. “Why don’t we have a flag?” Pittman joked as he began his speech.

Construction of the 31,000-square-foot, three-story building began in the spring of 2016 and the project was completed in July 2017.

Each of the four communities has a private entrance, lounge, kitchen, beds for 24 residents, private bathrooms and storage space. All residents share meeting rooms and laundry facilities.

Tiger Village is located on the south end of Lewis Field Stadium.