To our brothers in the Alumni and Volunteer Corporation Board of Trustees, We write to express our disagreement with the changes outlined in the recent email sent to alumni regarding SigEp NH Alpha at Dartmouth. In short, we strongly oppose the membership review process and the imposition of SigEp National’s substance-free policy, as well as the enactment of these changes – which have the potential to fundamentally change the fraternity forever – by the AVC Board of Trustees without input from the greater alumni body. Because we oppose these changes, we support the undergraduate brothers’ desire to consider separating from the National fraternity and request that the “membership review” be postponed until a broader conversation can be had among the full membership of SigEp NH Alpha – the AVC Board, undergraduates, and broader Dartmouth SigEp alumni group. This discussion must take place to allow for due consideration of dramatic changes to the fraternity. Please find our detailed opinions below. We believe in our fraternity’s creed and its core value of brotherly love. We believe also that SigEp is a brotherhood of equals which exists to nurture the social, academic, and emotional development of Balanced Men, and to serve as the foundation for the formation of strong bonds among the young men in the fraternity. Undertaking a “membership review” in which a small group of alumni and representatives of the National organization will scrutinize the character of individual brothers (apparently with an eye toward expelling many of them) is directly antithetical to these aims. It in no way expresses brotherly love. The sense of kinship within SigEp directly depends on each member’s sense of individual accountability to his brothers and the brotherhood’s joint accountability to the broader community. We believe that the proposed “membership review” will destroy that bond. Furthermore, the proposal that the AVC Board and SigEp National usurp the undergraduate brothers’ right to select their fellow brothers reflects heavyhandedness and inconsistency with the principles of the fraternity. We find this deeply disturbing, and sadly, it shakes our confidence in the AVC Board and National fraternity’s judgment and values. We also disapprove of the AVC Board’s capitulation to SigEp National in its request that our chapter adhere to the new substance-free policy. While its aim is admirable, it is not suited to the realities and needs of SigEp NH Alpha. We feel that this shortsighted, naïve policy represents an ineffective approach to mitigating the risks alcohol poses. Throughout our time as undergraduates, we ensured that SigEp represented a space where students – brothers and non-brothers of all genders – could interact with one another safely in social settings with and often without alcohol. This set us apart from some other fraternities, where predatory behavior and peer pressure generated an unhealthy atmosphere that we rejected and kept out of our house. We certainly do not pretend to perfection in our time as undergraduates, but believe that forcing the chapter to abide by a substance-free policy would prevent brothers and others from learning and modeling mature behavior with respect to alcohol in a setting that prioritizes safety and teaches young men to treat women and one another with respect. Like the undergraduates, we look forward to discussing best practices to improve brothers’ opportunities to learn how to behave in this environment. We believe that demanding individuals completely avoid alcohol, which is a feature of social and professional life after Dartmouth, will not produce Balanced Men. Finally, we are distressed by the lack of transparency and timely communication from the AVC Board to the broader alumni group throughout this process. The AVC Board and National Fraternity’s unilateral decision directly contradicts the desires of the undergraduate brotherhood and fails to consider input from most Dartmouth SigEp alumni, who make up the AVC membership. These actions reflect disappointingly poor judgment on behalf of the AVC Board. We are saddened and hurt by the situation we find ourselves in today. The undersigned alumni brothers of SigEp NH Alpha hope to participate in an open discussion that addresses the needs of all stakeholders. However, should the membership review and substance-free policy be enacted without consideration of the undergraduates’ interests and without input from the broader membership of SigEp NH Alpha as requested, we will have no choice but to consider SigEp’s NH Alpha chapter at Dartmouth to be a distinct entity going forward, separate from the brotherhood that we joined years ago and to which many of us have given considerable financial support in the past. We hope that the AVC Board will reconsider its actions, halt this so-called “membership review,” and engage in a dialogue with the undergraduate brotherhood and their alumni brothers who have signed this letter. Regards, Adam Schwartz ’04, Secretary Carl DeSelm ’04, Social Chair Nick Danoff ’04 Diego Lorenzo ’04 Matthew Brown ’05, VP Programming Brandon Charles ’05, Chaplain Kevin Goldstein ’05, Social Chair and Summer Secretary Nathan Saperia ’05, Summer VP Programming Andrew Goldstein ’05 David Kerem ’05 Zachary Rubeo ’05 Timothy Sullivan ’05 Brian Lanana ’06, VP of Brother Development Ned Schneider ’06, House Manager Nan Wang ’06, New Member Educator Andrew Argeski ’06, Scholarship Chair and Summer House Manager Chris Laako ’06, Athletics Chair Abel James Bascom ’06 Daniel Kurland ’06 Jonathan Landsberg ’06 David Coen ’07, President Zach Supalla ’07, Recruitment Chair and Summer President Michael Dovidio ’07, VP Programming and Summer Risk Manager Eric Gruber ’07, Chaplain Ben Reed ’07, Social Chair Kazi Kased Ahmed ’07 Kevin Garland ’07 Sam Routhier ’07 Benjamin Paull ’08, VP Programming and Social Chair Zachary Dorner ’08, House Manager and Summer VP Programming Ben Davis ’08, VP Brother Development and Summer Secretary Paul Therattil ’08, Chaplain, New Member Educator, and Summer Risk Manager Stuart Reid ’08, Alumni Relations Chair Charlie Stoebe ’08, Recruitment Chair Devin Fallon ’08, New Member Educator Joseph Hanley ’08, Summer House Manager Matt Beale ’08 Paul Bousquet ’08 Remy Denton ’08 Anthony Fahden ’08 Alan Han ’08 Michael Larson ’08 Mike Lynch ’08 Christopher Noel ‘08 Phil Salinger ’08 Jonathan Simpson ’08 Christopher Tao ’08 Kevin Scully ’09, President Nicholas Weir ’09, VP Programming John Fine ’09, VP Brother Development Denton King ’09, CFO Luke Mann-O’Halloran ’09, House Manager and Secretary (2008) Andrew Lebovich ’09, Chaplain Thomas DeFalco ’09, Risk Manager Colin Treseler ’09, Social Chair Owen Roberts ’09, Secretary Miguel Velazquez ’09, AVC Board Member and Summer CFO Kyle Sherry ’09, Summer VP Brother Development Alejandro Borquez ’09 Nick Brown ’09 Thomas Donahoe ’09 Adam Frank ’09 Andrew Han ’09 Dylan Landers-Nelson ’09 Noah Levinson ’09 Erik Newman ’09 Kevin Pfeiffer ’09 Bret Tenenhaus ’09 David Schmidt ’09 Zach Swiss ’09 Eric Schwager ’10, President and Summer Chaplain Brian Bozzello ’10, Summer President Stephen Schiraldi ’10, House Manager Daniel Chamberlain ’10, CFO Brevan D’Angelo ’10, Chaplain and Risk Manager (2009) Alexander Hall ’10, Risk Manager Ben Gordon ’10, Secretary Alex Becker ’10, New Member Educator James Cart ’10, New Member Educator Greg Sokol ’10, Academic Chair Adam Halpern-Leistner ’10, Summer House Manager Kenneth DiCairano ’10 Adrian Garcia ’10 Nolan McKusick ’10 Kevin Muse ’10 Colin Nichols ’10 Ben Nunnery ’10 Jake Routhier ’10 Ben Wiener ’10 Alex Yi ’10 Nathan Potter ’11, VP Programming Will Levine ’11, VP Brother Development Chris Han ’11, VP Brother Development (2010 and Summer) Pat Kennedy ’11, CFO Alex Gonzalez ’11, Chaplain and Service Chair Kelly Jackson ’11, Social Chair Kelly O’Brien ’11, Secretary and Summer Chaplain Travis Price ’11, Sustainability Chair Christopher Alexander ’11 Jon Anker ’11 Andrew Joseph ’11 Lars Osterberg ’11 Roger Zhu ’11 Philip Burgin-Young ’12, President and Summer CFO Dennis Zeveloff ’12, VP Programming Robert Mercurio ’12, Summer President and Secretary Wade Islan ’12, VP Brother Development Matthew Garton ’12, CFO John Gorham ’12, House Manager Matthew Heffley ’12, Interim House Manager Michael Cooper ’12, Chaplain Akshay Kirtikar ’12, Risk Manager Ethan Weinberg ’12, Risk Manager Nick Tropin ’12, Social Chair and Risk Manager Benjamin Waller ’12, Alumni Relations Chair Graeme Calloway ’12 Nicolas Chuaqui ’12 Andrew Clay ’12 Austin Greenfield ’12 Harper Pack ’12 Michael Swartz ’12 Daniel Rosengard ’13, President and Summer VP Brother Development Thomas Das ’13, VP Programming Sean Derrow ’13, CFO Nathan Friendly ’13, House Manager John Guo ’13, Chaplain (13F-13W) Joseph Yi ’13, Chaplain (12S) Asa Harrington ’13, Risk Manager and Summer Social Chair Ceci Qiu ’13, Recruitment Chair and Summer Vice President of Programming Bobby Arao ’13, Alumni Relations Chair Sean Kaufman ’13, Housing Coordinator and Summer House Manager Benji Kessler ’13, Sustainability Chair Kyle Saltsman ’13, Summer Chaplain Yon-Sue Choi ’13 Jesse Choukas-Bradley ’13 Gregory Fox ’13 Ian Healy-Day ’13 Max Hunter ’13 Peter Kim ’13 Michael Leinkeit ’13 Kyle Lenz ’13 Ryan Nightingale ’13 Richard Waitumbi ’13 Danny Zhang ’13 Connor Watumull ’14, President Sid Saithe ’14, VP Programming Michael Perlstein ’14, VP Brother Development Dylan Assael ’14, CFO Gerben Scherpbier ’14, Chaplain Horacio Romero Castillo ’14, Social Chair (2013) Nicholas Reznicek ’14, Social Chair (2013) Charlie Laud ’14, Social Chair and Summer VP Programming Michael Berger ’14, Secretary and Sustainability Chair Sebastian DeLuca ’14, Alumni Relations Chair and Summer Secretary Henry MacQueen ’14, New Member Educator Freddie Fletcher ’14, Summer VP Brother Development Devon Cormack ’14 Erik Fagerstrom ’14 Georgi Klissurski ’14 William Kuzma ’14 Ethan Thomas ’14 Eli Derrow ’15, President, Risk Manager (14S) Jon Xu ’15, CFO, Housing Coordinator, and Risk Manager (14F) Nicholas Gannon ’15, House Manager and Summer VP Programming Bill Lane ’15, Facility Projects Manager and Summer VP Programming Alistair Glover ’15, Risk Manager (14W), Summer House Manager Dylan Sewell ’15, Social Chair and Summer Risk Manager Cameron Hunter ’15, Alumni Relations Chair, Recruitment Chair, and Summer Social Chair Collin Walmsley ’15, Service Chair Maximilian Jentzsch ’15, Awareness, Impact, and Improvement Chair Samuel Schoenberger Hills ’15, Summer Recruitment Chair Max Gottschall ’15 Chris Pullerits ’15 Romen Mookerjee ’15 Joseph Clyne ’16, President and Recruitment Chair (2015) Taylor Watson ’16, Summer President, Academic Chair, and Service Chair Henry Arndt ’16, VP Programming David Berg ’16, VP Brother Development and Recruitment Chair (2015) Kevin Cheng ’16, CFO Alex Moushey ’16, House Manager (2015) and Academic Chair Dan Whitcomb ’16, Facilities Project Manager Osamu Fukuyama ’16, Risk Manager Amir Djavid ’16, Social Chair (14F) Drew Zwetchkenbaum ’16, Secretary Sean Howe ’16, Alumni Relations Chair and Summer Social Chair Will Lynch ’16, Recruitment Chair and Summer Social Chair Saeheb Sidana ’16, Summer Alumni Relations Chair Jake Gaba ’16 Benjamin Geithner ’16 Alexander Lee ’16 Peter Lobel ’16 Ellis Guo ’17, President and Facility Project Manager Nicko Gladstone ’17, VP Programming Nick Moolenijzer ’17, VP Brother Development Arjun Sachdeva ’17, Summer VP Brother Development Richard Shen ’17, CFO Jeremy Mittleman ’17, House Manager Matt Mitman ’17, Facility Projects Manager Chase Shipp ’17, Facility Projects Manager David Klinges ’17, Chaplain and Recruitment Chair Andrew Carouthers ’17, Social Chair Armin Mahban ’17, Social Chair Thomas Palladino ’17, Social Chair, Recruitment Chair, Summer Secretary, and Academic Chair Jack Kirsch ’17, Secretary (2016) and New Member Educator Doug Phipps ’17, Summer Social Chair and Housing Coordinator Armin Mahban ’17, Summer Social Chair Terence Hughes ’17, Service Chair Daniel Finch ’17, Service Chair Evan Rheingold ’17, Athletics Chair Tyler Albarran ’17 Eric Chen ’17 Kahlil D’Souza ’17 Eric Jung ’17 Neil Kamath ’17 Merritt Losert ’17 Jett Oristaglio ’17 Ben Rutan ’17 Ryan Schiller ’17 Kieran Sim ’17 Carter Sullivan ’17