Delta Sigma Pi fraternity completes first year on campus

April 20 will mark the first year of Delta Sigma Pi, Rho Omega chapter, being on campus. The professional business fraternity now has 70 members after initiating their Beta Class April 4.

Hadley Roberts, Westhampton College '15, the current chapter president, said she was thrilled to see the organization grow so quickly in such little time. Roberts took part in founding the fraternity and said it was something they had felt the need to have on campus.

"Our founding officers and brothers just saw that there was definitely a lot of people in the business school to have two organizations so we rallied up about 22 people who were really interested in starting this organization," Roberts said.

Delta Sigma Pi is a co-educational, professional business fraternity. It was started in 1907 in New York University's Stern School of Business.

Roberts said the biggest difference between DSP and Alpha Kappa Psi, the other business fraternity on campus, is that DSP exclusively takes either current or intended business majors. This spring they initiated 13 new members.

"It's all based on business and professionalism and community service," she said.

As they were trying to establish the fraternity last year, Roberts said it was their key selling point in telling students that this was a great way for them to get involved and put a lasting imprint on campus.

"You're not going into an organization that's already established. You get to create it."

In the past year, DSP held eight professional volunteering events. Roberts said the diversity in the organization was also what made it special.

"All business majors are very diversified from all walks of life, different countries, different states. So it's really been fun representing the business school's diversity through our organization," Roberts said.

Adela Chacon, WC '16, who was initiated into the Beta Class this spring, said she wanted to become a member of DSP to join a brotherhood of students who had the same interest in business as she did.

"Business is a game that changes as you play it, so it is important to immerse yourself in it far beyond the theory taught in class," Chacon said. "Even now, having only gone through the pledging process, I have learned invaluable interviewing, public speaking, and fraternal skills that will aid me when first entering the world outside of UR."

Dana Lascu, faculty advisor of DSP, said she was surprised seeing how well the new fraternity had done on campus in less than a year. Though the fraternity is new on campus, it has been recognized on the national level, she said.

"We went up at the same time that Duke University did but it took us a fraction of the time that Duke took to achieve this status," Lascu said.

Lascu said the students were the ones who first approached her to start a new fraternity and that it was their determination and hard work that led to the organization's success.

"It's basically a testimony to the people who make up the group," she said. "They are extremely serious and very focused."

Contact reporter Sabrina Islam at sabrina.islam@richmond.edu