Sigma Phi Epsilon has seen rough times throughout the last decade or so. The fraternity lost its national charter, had an on-again, off-again relationship with the university and lost a majority of its members after the national headquarters suspended the entire house.

The latest part of SigEp’s history may have tarnished the fraternity’s reputation and caused the number of brothers to dwindle, but with recruitment right around the corner, SigEp has a chance to begin the process of regaining its former strength.

SigEp needs to concentrate on recruiting members that display the qualities a fraternity is supposed to uphold. The remaining brothers need to select a large, diverse and driven group of men who are willing to work hard at pulling the organization back on its feet. Men who have displayed leadership in other organizations and men who want to take responsibility for their fraternity.

But this is also a dangerous time for SigEp. Recruiting the type of person who joins simply for the social aspect of a fraternity could easily set the attitude of the house for the next few years, ultimately causing many of the same problems to arise again.

‘We’re looking for ambitious guys who also want to get around the ‘frat boy’ image,’ said Paul Hanus, president of SigEp.

Richie Welliver, a sophomore in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management who plans to undergo SigEp’s recruitment process this spring, seems to be one of those people.

Welliver said he is interested in SigEp not only because he is a legacy (his brother is a member of the University of South Carolina chapter), but also because he believes he can use his energy to ‘bring back the SigEp name.’

‘Not everybody is perfect,’ he said. ‘We need to strive to do better. We need to not look back on the past, but learn from the past.’

It won’t be a quick transition, and it probably won’t be too smooth either. But given time and care, SigEp has the potential to bolster its reputation at SU.

‘We want to dominate campus,’ Hanus said.