What's up with Phi Sig?
What's up with Phi Sig?
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Membership in PSK has dropped over the past several years from almost 50 members in 2013 to less than 10 in 2021. As the chapter size decreased, funds available to operate and maintain 9 and 11 Dean Street also declined. Students are reluctant to join a shrinking fraternity with substandard facilities. This recruiting challenge has made it difficult to break the pattern of low membership, limited chapter income, and deferred facility maintenance. In 2021, KXA elected to lease Mack’s House to another fraternity to make ends meet.
Several factors have impacted all fraternities at WPI. The pandemic and restrictions on student social activities have depressed membership levels in recent years. Relative to other fraternities, the decline in membership at PSK stands out. It now has the lowest membership of any WPI fraternity. The causes of this decline are numerous. They include an erosion of the chapter’s culture and character – specifically: a disregard for personal safety, the well-being of fellow brothers, and the values and traditions of PSK – that resulted in improper behavior, accusations of misconduct, a negative reputation, and pressure on brothers to disassociate from PSK.
The current brotherhood (pictured) has made impressive progress in turning the situation around. A critical first step in restoring membership numbers was to reset cultural and behavioral norms. WPI administrators, KXA leaders, and the current brotherhood are firm in their belief that the chapter is moving forward with higher expectations for personal behavior and accountability.
2023 was another year of solid progress in the rebuild. Over 160 brothers returned to 11 Dean for the Buck Fifty event to celebrate and honor Phi Sig's 150th anniversary. They also answered the call to support the fundraising effort for a new roof on Main House.
Thanks to the generosity of nearly 200 alumni the roof on Main House was fully replaced in December and for the first time in time in nearly 10 years the chapter house has a completely leak-free roof. The undergraduate brothers also competed several smaller house improvement projects on their own.
Phi Sig’s undergraduates are successfully growing membership through a selective recruitment strategy. Fall Rush added three new Brothers and built a strong pipeline of potential recruits for Spring Rush.
A Path Forward
A Path Forward
As noted, a group of brothers has organized a comprehensive effort to sustain and accelerate PSK’s revitalization. This effort consists of four priorities.
1. Culture: Our objective is to foster a healthy culture and ensure the expectations for personal behavior and accountability noted earlier are maintained. The goal is to sustain an environment where brothers respect the fraternity’s values: betterment of the individual and community, opportunities for members to develop, participation in community service, academic excellence, and personal integrity.
2. Physical infrastructure: Our objective is to upgrade the property to acceptable standards. The new roof on Main House addressed the highest priority infrastructure issue, but additional repairs and upgrades are needed. The condition of the house plays a key role in recruiting members and promoting a healthy culture. Today’s students and parents have different expectations for housing than we remember. As a first step, we will work with local contractors to assess both houses, identify a prioritized set of improvements and cost estimates for completing them.
3. Alumni network & fundraising: Our goal is to reconnect with alumni through a person-to-person network. The network will be used to keep alumni informed about the status of the revitalization. As targets for infrastructure work are established, it will be a vehicle for fundraising.
We invite your hands-on involvement in any aspect of the revitalization effort, a role in advising the current brotherhood, and/or financial support. We look forward to hearing from you.
Revitalization Committee: Wood '27, Calarese ’25, Prouty ‘25, Duran '18, Braconnier ’17, Wormer ’17, Bean ’13, Norcott ’05, Serra ’05, Hetzel ’97, Calarese ’90, Ide ’87, Guida ’83, LaPre ’74, Babin ’68
Physical Infrastructure
Physical Infrastructure
Milestone Timeline
Milestone Timeline
Since the start of the Kampaign, our committee has made steady progress on the physical infrastructure component. Some of the milestones we have completed to date, and are anticipating moving forward, are listed below:
Main House Roof Replacement (December 2023)
Preliminary Sketches (April 2024 - June 2024)
Architect Firm Outreach (June 2024 - July 2024)
Architect Site Visits & Preliminary Proposals (July 2024 - August 2024)
RFP Development (September 2024 - January 2025)
Proposals Review (February 2025)
Reference Checks & Interview (March 2025)
Notice to Proceed (March 2025)
Existing Conditions (April - June 2025)
Schematic Designs (July - September 2025)
Schematic Design Review & Evaluation (September - March 2026)
Phasing Development (March - August 2026)
Phasing Refinement (September - November 2026)
Kampaign Launch Event (November 14, 2026)
Contractor Bidding & Selection (December 2026 - March 2027)
Groundbreaking (May 2027)
Phased Construction (May 2027 - August 2030)
How can you help? Well I am glad you asked! We need help - and a lot of it!
Volunteer! You don't special experience or expertise, just some free time and a desire to help give back to Phi Sig
Reach out via email: kxa.alumni@phisigkap.org
Spread the word! We're glad you're here and know about the Kampaign, but a lot of your Brothers don't. Spread the word by sending them a link to this page! Even better, get them signed up to our alumni newsletter!
Donate! We aren't collecting donations to the Kampaign just yet, but we will need them very soon! Stay tuned!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Due to the generosity of several key Brothers, we were able to hire GRLA for the engineering study, existing conditions development, and schematic design development. Thank you for your trust and support!
David LaPre
Jim Gobes
Mark Beal
Steve Maiorano
Frank Kania
Stephen "Emmett" Kaminski
Without the support of these Bothers, we would not have been able to start Phase 2 of the Kampaign. We are truly grateful for your continued support of Phi Sig.
Contact Us: kxa.alumni@phisigkap.org
Revitalization Committee: Wood '27, Calarese ’25, Prouty ‘25, Duran '18, Braconnier ’17, Wormer ’17, Bean ’13, Norcott ’05, Serra ’05, Hetzel ’97, Calarese ’90, Ide ’87, Guida ’83, LaPre ’74, Babin ’68
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