In the fall of 2003, Sigma Chi Fraternity was closed as a result of a hazing incident. Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity planned a move into the house that was once Sigma Chis’s (located directly adjacent to the Michigan Union), leaving the traditional home of Sigma Zeta, 1601 Washtenaw, open to new tenants. Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity had been leasing the house at 1601 Washtenaw from Lambda Chi Alpha Properties (LCAP) since 2001.
LCAP manages the house at 1601 for the Lambda Chi Alpha General Fraternity, who came to own the house after Sigma Zeta was closed in 1994.
Currently living in the former Tau Kappa Epsilon house at 800 Oxford, the members of Sigma Zeta expressed their desire to live in the traditional home of Sigma Zeta, 1601.
LCAP weighed its options. Even though the chapter was smaller than they would have liked, Sigma Zeta was allowed to again occupy 1601. On March 30, a meeting was held between meeting with Joseph S. Klimek, Chief Operating Officer of LCAP, making our fall 2004 move to 1601 official.
At the meeting with Joe Klimek, the furnishing of 1601 was discussed. The following
rooms were discussed:
The smaller of the two common rooms on the first floor – The carpet would
be replaced and it would be furnished. The room (and the adjoining foyer and
coat room) were repainted as well. The chapter would use it as a meeting/business/study
room.
The larger common room on the first floor – The floor would remain hardwood
and the chapter would use it as a living room. The chapter repainted and furnished
the room.
Individual Rooms – LCAP agreed to furnish the rooms. The chapter agreed
to fill the rooms on the second floor before putting people in the rooms on
the third floor.
Before Winter Rush 2004, helped by former Educational Leadership Consultant and current LCAP Staff Member Chris Sternhagen. He worked to train us on selling and marketing of the Fraternity. During Rush, we were helped by Educational Leadership Consultant Ben Beaubalis. Rush events featured a pool tournament, watching Alice and Wonderland while listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and other fellowship activities. Brian McCorkle became Associated after the Rush, due largely to the friendship he formed with Nate Whetsell and their shared love of music making, specifically the use of the Chaos Pad, which is used when playing electric guitar. Ethan Rein and James Crabtree were Associated before the Rush began. All three were inducted March 28, 2004.
The school year finished and most members moved away for the summer. Tommy Knowlton stayed living in 800 Oxford. Bard Quinn and Tony Ling (recent alumni living with the Active Chapter) remained in Ann Arbor. Chris Demeniuk remained in Ann Arbor. He was not living with the chapter at 800 Oxford. Matt Martin and Ben Hoff remained for Spring term classes.
May 16th 2004 was the first meeting of the Alumni Advisory board, formerly the Sigma Zeta Housing Corporation. It was held in Anderson D room of the Michigan Union.
Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity moved out of 1601 June 30. Much work needed to be done on the house before we could move in. To Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity’s credit, some clean up work was done before they left, including patching of many holes in the walls of the house. The leases began August 29, but some members were allowed to move in early. On July 30 the pool table was moved from 800 Oxford to 1601. Over the course of August 1 and 2, everything else was moved. Most of our furniture went to the cold room on the third floor, which we planned to make a game room for the time being.
The members moved in over the course of August. Tommy moved into room 8 on the second floor August 1. Brad and Tony moved in over the course of August 7 and 8. Brad moved into room 1 on the second floor and Tony moved into the room on the first floor. Matt Martin finished moving in August 16. Over the month, he had been occupying the cold room and worked to set up room on the second floor. Chris Demeniuk moved into room 6 on the second floor August 20, but had been working on his room since August 6. Chris was hired by Rob Nosse, the house contractor, for some of the work on the house. Nate moved into room 2 on the second floor August 26. Ethan moved into room 3 on the second floor August 27. Ethan and Ben share the room. Ben moved earlier in the week of the 27th. Steve Marin, High Alpha, moved in August 28.
Starting August 2, Rob Nosse and other contractors worked diligently to get the house ready for living. On the first floor, the carpet was replaced and the common rooms were repainted.
Upon an August 27th visit, George Spasyk noticed that the coat of arms over the fireplace in the chapter room had been amended since its original painting. The bottom scroll reads ‘Vir Quisqe Vir,’ an addition with the from the 1939 merger with of Lambda Chi Alpha and Theta Kappa Nu International Fraternities. The house, built in 1926 had the original coat of arms, on which the bottom scroll read ‘Lambda Chi Alpha’ in Greek Letters. Also the third word on the top scroll was misspelled. It read ‘CRUCSUENS’ and not ‘CRESUENS.’ Also, the badge’s ‘X’ is painted as a ‘Y.’
The halls of the second and third floors were steam cleaned. Around the house, water damage was cleaned up and windows were replaced.
Not willing to be outdone in their own house, the tenants of 1601 did much work to ready the house for living. Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity left some lofts in place, making the set up lofts easy to do. Tommy and Chris painted their rooms.
Tommy painted the letters white and Rob Nosse hung them up on the chimney on the north side of the house. He thought he found the original holes for our letters, but the ‘X’ is crooked and may need to be changed. As of Fall 2006, the ‘X’ has not been straightened. The letters were replaced August 21.
Tommy bought a lawn mower and was reimbursed by the Alumni Association. He mowed the lawn several times in August. The kitchen was cleaned up by the members, including the draining of the deep fryer and clearing of the refrigerators. Members began to dismantle some of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity stuff, including a DJ booth in the main room of the basement. Some of the members steam cleaned their own room’s carpet as well.
A clean up day for the members and alumni was held August 28. It was arranged by Alumni Association President George Friess. In attendance were Nate Whetsell, George Friess, Jamie Quasckenbush, George Grove, George Spasyk, George Pomey, Brad Quinn, Ethan Rein, Tony Ling, Matt Martin, Andy Knowlton, Steve Marin Tommy Knowlton and Chris Demeniuk. Joe Klimek and Brian Stone from LCAP were also present. Brian was directly responsible for the house at LCAP, along with several other Lambda Chi houses.
Projects included patching and priming over four Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity murals on the walls. One was on the north staircase, between the first and second floors. The other three were in the basement. The living room was arranged and cleaned. The area around the bushes in the front were raked and the north half was covered with mulch. We split the area for plants around the patio, making the area next to the patio into part of the lawn, where it had been overgrown. Nate Whetsell cleaned up the area near the dumpsters, clearing off several feet of driveway that were once covered in several inches of dirt. The window wells were raked, power washed and lava rocks were put down. The bushes in front of the house were trimmed and the dead parts were removed. Tommy dismantled a bar and DJ station that were left by Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.
The LCAP crew and George Spasyk left in the afternoon to find furnishings for the George W. Spasyk Chapter Room (the name of the smaller of the two common rooms on the first floor). They came back with a 14 foot conference table and 19 chairs. George also told the chapter that he would decorating the rooms, beginning with his instructions to put the plaque dedicating the room, the original charter and the new charter on the wall to the right of the fireplace.
Breakfast of Donuts and orange juice were provided by George Friess. Jamie Quackenbush paid for a lunch of pizzas from Cottage Inn. Work began around 9 am and most alumni were cleared out by 3 pm.
After the working stopped, Brian, Steve, Nate and Ethan discussed recruitment activities. These included targeting largely non-Greek student organizations, recruiting through sororities, and the use of Move in Makers. Steve, Ethan and Tommy will work during welcome week as move in makers, helping unload cars and direct people as they move in. Goals of 200 contacts by the time Brian comes back and 100 by the end of welcome week were set. After the work was closed, some of the lumber from the demolition done by Tommy was used to strengthen lofts an Steve began to move into room 7. He plans to begin painting the room, following priming over the walls, one of which is black. Ethan Tommy and Steve went to a mandatory Move in Makers meeting and then to dinner with Matt Martin.
Before a get together with ??? on Friday of Welcome Week, George Spasyk took some of brothers out to dinner at Webers’s. Ethan Rein, James Crabtree, Matt Calestino, Steve Marin, Nate Whetsell, Matt Martin and Chris Demeniuk went along. Nate, Ethan and James went in George’s rental car and the rest drove with Steve. At this dinner, George passed around some pictures of the Lambda Chi Alpha and UM memorabilia at his house, which he would be giving to us. The finest decoration shown was the solid bronze (1 of 12 in the world) Coat of Arms that hangs over his fireplace. He made us the deal that when the chapter grows to 50 men with 30 in the house, that Coat of Arms will be ours. Nate was particularly excited about this proposal.
A visit from George W. Spasyk on Wednesday, September 8th, proved to be very beneficial to the Spasyk Chapter Room. George provided a clock bearing the fraternity coat of arms for the mantle, placed in between the hourglasses he brought up the week before. With the help of Brad Quinn, he hung the original and new charters and the room dedication on the wall to the right of the fireplace. He brought a print of a photo of the Michigan Stadium for the other side of the window on the same wall. On the exterior George brought an amazing hook rug wall hanging of the coat of arms and the plaques the chapter presented him on its 75th and 80th anniversaries. We also hung our philanthropic awards from 2002 and 2003 as well as our most improved GPA certificate from April 10th, 2003. On the wall opposite the exterior wall, we hung the Grand High Alpha Awards from 1976 and 1979. Between those certificates hangs a print of a painting of a wolverine given to George with the inscription ‘To George – One of our finest Alums. Thanks for all your support. Go BLUE! – Bo’ it is signed by Bo Schembeckler.
In the foyer, George hung a needle point work of art made by his secretary of 18 years upon his retirement. It features the badge of the fraternity and there is a Greek Lamp in the corner with his zeta number 556 in the corner. He also gave us a mirror with the Block M logo on it. This mirror was hung in the recessed part of the wall opposite the stairway to the basement. George also brought up a collage of ‘100 years of Michigan Football.’ This now sits over the fireplace in the living room. he also brought up a slew of empty frames and frames filled with 11 x 14 sized composites from years past. These will be hung after the living room is painted. The previous week, with the hourglasses, George had brought a Greek Lamp mounted to a wooden base to place in the hole in the center of the table in the table.
On Thursday the 9th, we were given some spectacular gifts of foyer furniture for the foyer. George purchased a credenza, and end table and two chairs for the foyer. He also purchased a lamp for the foyer. Steve Marin went with George to the refurbished furniture store in Ypsilanti to make the purchases.
A donation from Chester Shelly provided the chapter with several round dining room tables for the dining room.
George Spasyk, representing the Alumni Association, secured major donations in the summer of 2005 for improvements to the house. A group of alumni from the 1970s donated the funds to have the three interior stairwells carpeted. The carpeting in the north and south stairwells provided a marked difference in the look and sound of these stairwells. The rails were painted at the 2005 Alumni/Active Work day.
The second major donation was of $10,000 from Bruce Koepfgen for the redecorating of the Living Room. His funds were used to purchase a leather sectional couch, two leather recliners, two suede couches, three end tables, several floor and table lamps, several area rugs, one large footrest, a coffee table, and a dining room table with six chairs. Also, the hard wood floor was refinished and the walls were painted.
Other work projects in the summer of 2005 included more individual room painting, painting of the second floor hallway, redecoration of the patio room (formerly the bike room), and redecorating of the Game Room (formerly the work out room).
Summer 2006 will see the redecorating of the dining room.