Banquet Welcome Address

Dan Craig '03, Corporate Board President

Brothers, sweethearts, family, friends, welcome to this grand celebration of 130 years of the Alpha Theta chapter of Sigma Chi at MIT. My name is Dan Craig, class of 2003, and it is my privilege to serve as the president of the house corporation with so many dedicated alumni and an outstanding group of undergraduates. I'd like to thank a few brothers in particular who worked very hard to make this weekend happen. Reunion coordinators Jeff Mekler and Ruaridh MacDonald, corporate treasurer Josh Littlefield, and capital campaign co-chair and past corporate president Karl Büttner have devoted countless hours over many months to produce this wonderful reunion.

One hundred and thirty years ago, there were 39 states in the Union. My own home state was then known as Indian Territory. MIT was located on the other side of Copley Square from here and was only 21 years old. Total enrollment was 368 students, 11 of which were women. Some of those students were the first to enter a brand new course of study at the Institute; Electrical Engineering.

It was at this time that ten men joined together to form the 43rd chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. No other fraternities then existed on campus, Chi Phi having closed down in 1878 after only five years. They later restarted in 1890, presumably after they learned from us how to do it right.

Today, of course, the world is a much bigger place. MIT has over 10,000 students and 38 FSILGs. Sigma Chi has grown to be one of the largest fraternities in North America and now has 244 chapters. Just a few months ago, Alpha Theta added thirteen more men to its rolls, now totalling 1,358 initiated Alpha Thetas. Of the roughly 600 living brothers, 195 are here at this reunion.

What draws us all here this weekend? It is more than just simple friendship with those we lived with during our short few years in college. If that were all that mattered, a reunion might be nothing bigger than last night's era dinners. It is more than simply having lived in the same building. Most dorms don't have reunions where one third of the people who lived there get together every five years. ¹

There's something deeper that keeps us together. What we really share is a common heritage that transforms my room, my friends, into our home, our brothers.

Not all of this is apparent right away. When we first pledge, we do so because of the people who are in the house right now. When we become brothers, we choose to make that deep commitment to these men. But it's not until your first reunion that you see just how deep the roots of this brotherhood you committed to are. When you see three hundred people from a span of six decades together like this, you realize that each one of them made the same commitment to friendship, justice, and learning that you did.

That's what brings us here tonight and keeps us coming back to gatherings large and small: birthdays, weddings, childbirths, anneversaries, and even funerals.

For many of us, the further removed we get from our time as undergraduates the better our memory of that experience gets. It's easy to get nostalgic and think that the house has gone to, well, you know. But with this chapter, it couldn't be further from the truth. By just about any measure, the house keeps getting better and better. These undergraduates are smarter, with the top GPA of all fraternities last year of 4.47; more numerous, with 43 active members; more athletic, with 25 varsity athletes; more involved, with members in ROTC, music groups, and entreprenuership. They're even taller, with an average height of 6 foot 3 inches.

Our undergraduates are excelling beyond just MIT, but also in the greater Sigma Chi community at large. Alpha Theta retains its lead in the number of Peterson Awards, with 35 and counting. Brothers continue to attend Leadership Training Workshop and, thanks to the generosity of some of our alumni and the Sigma Chi Foundation, the Horizons outdoor leadership development program. And, in the five years since our last reunion, we have had one International Balfour Award winner, Ben Pope, and two back-to-back finalists, Jeff Mekler and Garrett Winther.

This is a great time for Alpha Theta Sigma Chi. Ten years ago this future was not so certain. In 2002, MIT implemented the long dreaded policy of requiring all freshmen to live on campus. Many FSILG members, including myself, foresaw great doom in this change. As it turned out, some houses struggled, but none went under because of it. Alpha Theta, on the otherhand, not only survived, it has thrived. Ten years on, the chapter is in a stronger position than ever before and, with the involvement and aid of such a dedicated group of alumni, is poised to take the best men and make them better for many decades to come.

Thank you all for coming this weekend. It has been wonderful seeing old friends and making new ones. Let us begin our meal and we will resume our program following the main course. Enjoy your dinner and each others company.