Chartering Ceremony

Finally, after much hard work from the brothers at 700 Oxford and the support from you all, the Gamma Nu Colony will be receiving its charter! The official ceremony will be at 7:30 pm on October 23rd. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, it will have to take place virtually over Zoom. We would love to have you all participate virtually by clicking the link below.

Our first Initiation back at the University of Michigan will take place outside on Saturday, Oct 24 in two ceremonies, where we will welcome 42 candidates as Sigma Nu brothers. Gamma Nu is back at the University of Michigan! 

The link for the zoom for the chartering ceremony is below:

Gamma Nu Wins Sigma Nu National Award

Gamma Nu in its first year back won a Sigma Nu National Philanthropic Contribution Award this summer, for having contributed the highest per man average for its "Winterfest" philanthropy this spring that raised a record high of $127,000.

Commander's Corner

by Commander Logan Kraatz

Hello, my name is Logan Kraatz, the current Commander of Gamma Nu.  I am a senior studying Economics and am currently living in 700 Oxford. As I am nearing the end of my term, it is apparent how much we’ve accomplished in the past year and how close we are to achieving many of the goals we set out two years ago.

We were informed in late February of this year, that the Gamma Nu Chapter of Sigma Nu will be getting our charter back! It will once again be hanging on the walls of 700 Oxford. February would prove to be a big month for us as we ran a campus-wide philanthropy event called Winterfest for the first time in the backyard of 700 Oxford. $127,000 was raised for three different charities, St. Jude’s, Safe House Ann Arbor, and the Autism Alliance of Michigan. This event won us the Sigma Nu National Philanthropy award for outraising every other Sigma Nu chapter in the Nation.

In March, we ran into the roadblock of COVID-19. Everyone was sent home from campus and we moved to summer operations with Executive Board calls once a week to plan out the upcoming year. This semester also brought with it a range of new challenges. Due to the pandemic, we are restricted from conducting many chapter operations in a normal capacity. However, we were able to confront these challenges and turned them in our favor. We pivoted our social budget over to our brotherhood budget, allowing us to have a wide array of brotherhood events, which has brought us much closer together. We also had to rethink our strategy for recruitment, which consisted of many in-person and some virtual events. This allowed us to meet with every rushee in-person and increase our outreach to many guys we may not have had contact with before. This hybrid approach paid off after we gave out 20 bids, with 17 of them being accepted. Now our focus has once again been turned to brotherhood and developing our new candidates through the pledge term.

Since our classes are primarily online, many of the brothers have had time to make improvements to the house. We are now getting ready to sign leases to live in the house next year. We are looking at anywhere between 25 to 35 guys living in the house for the 2021-2022 academic year, a significant increase from the 11 currently living in the house. We are moving full steam ahead and there are no signs of us slowing down any time soon. If we can keep this momentum, there are no limits to what we can achieve in the foreseeable future!

Alumni Relations Notes

by Tejas Kulkarni

Hello everyone, my name is Tejas Kulkarni and I am the new Alumni Relations Chair for this semester. I am a sophomore studying Business and Computer Science from Trumbull, CT. As I take over this position, I look forward to meeting all of you and keeping you updated with the status of the chapter. 

We also want to emphasize that Alumni are always welcome at 700 Oxford. Whether it's at a scheduled event or just a spur of the moment visit, we encourage you to swing by and say hello! Brothers are always on hand and will be happy to show you around the house! If you want to schedule a time to make sure you get easy access and an awesome tour, please contact me at (203)-568-4212 or tejaskul@umich.edu. 

In addition, if you have any recent personal achievements that could be included in the Gamma Nus, reach out to me and I will include in upcoming Gamma Nus. Also, if you know of any brothers that are not receiving the Gamma Nus, please let me know, and I can add them to the email list!

Alumni Advisory Board Notes

by AAB Chairman Mike Thwaites

I'm sure you can all agree about 2020; what a year we've also had at the Gamma Nu House! This past spring, Sigma Nu National announced the re-chartering of Gamma Nu in record time, less than one year after the return of Sigma Nu to 700 Oxford! The time we all had hoped and prayed for has finally come.

After Covid-19 hit Michigan in March, the University of Michigan shut down in-person classes and went to online teaching. The virus basically shut down the Gamma Nu house as most of the students returned home to finish out the semester. Fall has brought a return of life to the Gamma Nu house with a combination of both online and some in-class teaching. Rush this fall was a combination of virtual and smaller in-person events, and Sigma Nu had one of the top classes on campus. Social distancing and State guidelines are being followed to keep the guys in the house safe from Covid-19, and I'm happy to report that Sigma Nu is one of the very few houses that has not had to quarantine on campus.

There has been a learning curve in the house since there were no older brothers to guide these young men, but the train at Gamma Nu is now moving full speed ahead! In the near future, it will be time for the Gamma Nu Alumni to step up. Major improvements on the house have not taken place in a very long time, and necessary work on the house needs to be done. We will need each of you financially, and would also welcome any in-person help to both the AAB (Alumni Advisory Board) and/or House Corp for those that have time to give. During the lockdown, all fundraising was stopped, but the brick campaign is now resuming. There will be a commemorative area with personalized bricks in the Sigma Nu yard. See the brick flyer below in this Gamma Nus, for the online order link.

Gamma Nu House Corp Notes

by House Corp President Mark Brown

As President of the Gamma Nu House Corp, I am proud of the progress we’ve made in less than two years since returning to campus.  As many of you know, especially those that attended our first Homecoming in over a decade in the Fall of 2019, we have retaken possession of 700 Oxford. We’ve also won a National Philanthropy Award for the 2019-2020 academic year, and are receiving our official charter from Sigma Nu National on 10/23/20.

With a successful fall rush, it looks like we have a promising future ahead of us. It has not been an easy return to campus and we still have a long way to go, but if you had asked me two years ago if we’d be where we are now, I’m not sure I would have believed it. Using the analogy that you must crawl, before you can walk, before you can run, I feel we’re exiting the crawling stage and are up, on a knee, and will soon be walking.

The House Corp has worked to solve many smaller projects around the house, from installing a new oven and microwave in the kitchen, to implementing a drainage system in the moat to correct seasonal flooding. However, there will be bigger projects to come in the future and we’ll be looking for Alumni support as we move this dream forward. Thank you to those of you that have already contributed in numerous ways. We would not be where we are without you, and we look forward to that continued support.