Sigs Gather in Skokie, Ill., for the 2016 Grand Council

Nearly 300 Sigma Chis and their family and friends gathered from June 10 to 12 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chicago – North Shore Conference Center in Skokie, Ill., in order to participate in the 2016 meeting of the Grand Council. The event afforded participants the opportunity to adopt changes to the language comprising the Governing Laws, celebrate the 2016 class of Fraternity award winners, tour the new Chuck and Kim Watson Museum of Sigma Chi, and observe a 50th anniversary rededication of the International Headquarters building in Evanston, Ill.
The Grand Council meeting officially kicked off the afternoon of June 10, when the assembled Grand Officers, undergraduate delegates, past Grand Consuls and others heard reports from 69th Grand Consul Michael Ursillo, BROWN 1978, and Sigma Chi Foundation president and CEO Ashley Woods, EAST TENNESSEE 2000, and honored the names of brothers who had entered into the Chapter Eternal since the 2015 Grand Chapter. In the evening, conference-goers took part in a banquet honoring the 2016 class of Fraternity award winners, including this year’s inductees to the Order of Constantine and recipients of the Significant Sig Award.
Many of the event’s presentations and discussions on June 11 were dedicated to the Preparation for Brotherhood program, which the Fraternity plans to roll out to all 242 of its undergraduate chapters this fall. Once implemented, the program will educate all of Sigma Chi’s pledges through a uniform curriculum, helping to ensure that all who go through initiation are properly prepared for the experience of witnessing the Fraternity’s Ritual for the first time.
In addition, voting members unanimously accepted a series of proposed changes to the Governing Laws, most of which reflect modern-day language and usage. They also learned that the 2017 Grand Chapter will be hosted in Providence, R.I. Attendees then wrapped up the affair by traveling to the nearby J. Dwight Peterson International Headquarters building in Evanston, Ill., where they witnessed a rededication of the Headquarters building marking the 50th year since its construction, and toured the Fraternity’s new state-of-the-art Chuck and Kim Watson Museum of Sigma Chi. The museum features such artifacts as a timeline of important events since the Fraternity’s founding in 1855, previously unexhibited video segments of past Grand Chapters and the original Sigma Phi badge belonging to Founder Daniel William Cooper, MIAMI (OHIO) 1857.
For more information about the the 2016 Grand Council, contact Konowal via email or phone at (847) 869-3655, ext. 232.