Welcome to the General Fraternity Resource Page for the office of Marshal. As Marshal, there are numerous duties and expectations placed upon you. Fortunately, for all of these responsibilities, there have been just as many resources created aimed at assisting you meet them.
This webpage consolidates the many resources pertinent to your specific position in order to provide a 360 degree view of what tools are available. It is recommended you take the time to review the resources on this page shortly after election, as it will help you better prepare as Marshal. Throughout your tenure in this position, you will undoubtedly be faced with some difficult challenges. Trust that this webpage will serve as an easily accessible source to help you meet those challenges. Good luck!
Primary Resources
These resources pertain to the specific duties of your position. It is recommended that you start by reviewing your officer manual, as all other links on this webpage stem from the information in the manual.
The Law of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc.
Risk Reduction Policy and Guidelines
Supplemental Resources
Candidate Education Program Components
Running a Candidate Class Meeting
Common Alcohol-Related Issues
Many of the most important decisions a chapter must make do not necessarily present themselves in a formal chapter setting, but rather on the weekends or during special campus sporting and alumni events. How to handle situations that could potentially alter the future of a chapter and its members is a pressing issue. This collection of "white papers" addresses common alcohol-related topics and instances that chapter leaders and members face on a potentially regular basis and at most, if not all, colleges and universities.
While each of the topics covered in this resource should be of importance to the entire chapter, those listed below directly affect the Marshal area of influence. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the entire resource and pay particular attention to those listed here.
- Big Brother Programs
- Underage ID Usage
- Binge Drinking Culture
- Candidate Bonding Events
Responsibilities Regarding LEAD Phase I
As Marshal, you are responsible for working with the chapter's LEAD Chairman to implement and run Phase I of the LEAD Program. Phase I: The Way of Honor is Sigma Nu's Candidate Education Program. It gives Candidates a foundation of knowledge about Sigma Nu history, leadership, values, ethics and teamwork. Your role as Marshal is essential to the success of the program and in the education of Candidates. You have the opportunity to shape the future of your chapter and members through your involvement with the program.
Your responsibilities as Marshal related to the LEAD Program are:
- Attend all Phase I LEAD Sessions with the Candidate Class
- Be a member of the chapter’s LEAD Committee
- Recruit outside facilitators for Phase I LEAD sessions
- Ensure candidates complete the online portion of Phase I sessions prior to attending the facilitated portion
- Take attendance at Phase I LEAD sessions
- Read and respond to any LEAD reflection questions from the Candidates
- Personally facilitate one or more Phase I LEAD Sessions
- Attend a Sigma Nu Institute
- Report completed Phase I LEAD sessions
- Promote the LEAD Program to the Candidates and the rest of the chapter
Getting Started with Phase I
To familiarize yourself with the LEAD Program, you should take the following steps:
- Review the LEAD Phase I Facilitator Manual.
- Review the Steps for Implementing LEAD Phase I guide.
- Ensure the chapter has a comprehensive, written Candidate Education Program built on LEAD Phase I.
NIC Standards
What Is The NIC?
- Expansion: Agree to and support open expansion policies and practices.
Open Expansion is the policy of all NIC member fraternities and it means that the IFC and the NIC member organizations on a given campus will support another NIC member fraternity in their efforts to establish a chapter, believing that the expansion of the fraternity community will be a benefit to ALL the chapters on a given campus. - Recruitment: The NIC's member fraternities are sympathetic to the concerns of colleges and universities in dealing with the multiple challenges associated with alcohol and its relationship to dysfunctional behavior. We are also dedicated to high academic achievement. We favor cooperative/partnering actions that will lead to positive change in a campus' culture. Deferred recruitment is not such an action.
Agree to and support:
- open recruitment practices
- alcohol-free rush/recruitment events
- alcohol-free new member/pledge/associate member programs
- maximum twelve (12) week new member programs
- Auxiliary Groups: Little sister/women's auxiliary groups are not allowed.
The prohibition of little sister/auxiliary groups is one of the most important elements of protecting our Title IX exemption. Those chapters that maintain these groups put our single-gender status at risk by their behaviors. - Risk Management: Risk management policies address alcohol use, fire safety, hazing and sexual assault/abuse.
When fraternities have risk management policies firmly in place there is no question as to the appropriate undergraduate behavior in these high risk situations. - Academic Success: Academic Success is part of founding principles of all NIC member fraternities.
Support academic success by:
Each of your chapters have an annual cumulative GPA at 2.5 or higher
Each of your new members have a 2.3 GPA or higher
- Ritual: Each member will communicate its values through its ritual as least annually.
By far the most important element in the existence of our organizations. The Ritual is the personification of the values of our organizations and is used to not only set individual fraternities apart from one another but also provide a guide to what it means to belong to a fraternity.
