Fraternity Banned From 'Miracle Jam'

Last Friday, four a cappella groups and a comedy team performed in the Miracle Jam, a benefit to raise funds for the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) that organizers said was "inspired" by the local Sigma Chi fraternity chapter.

Glee Club Lite, one of the four groups, produced and performed in the Sanders Theatre concert. The Opportunes, Dins and Tonics, Krokodiloes and On Thin Ice also appeared in the show.

The event had originally been planned by the Kappa Eta Sigma Chi chapter, whose members are all Harvard students. But members of the fraternity said Assistant Dean of Students Sarah E. Flatley forbade them from participating in the event as Sigma Chi brothers.

"[Dean] Flatley told us we would have to be happy with having inspired the Miracle Jam," said Jon D. Doolittle '97, president of the Kappa Eta chapter.

Because Harvard normally prohibits fraternity-sponsored campus events, Doolittle said he asked Flatley if the chapter could serve as the informal volunteer organizer of the concert and accept no recognition.

He added that under this plan, the Glee Club would have produced the event.

But the administration refused this arrangement, according to Doolittle, saying that fraternity brothers could only participate in the event as individuals.

Harvard students belonging to the 40-member Kappa Eta chapter said they were disappointed but not surprised by their exclusion from the event.

"The university has its rules," said former Kappa Eta president Seth Weintrob '96.

"[The lack of recognition] is regrettable, but there's nothing really that can be done about it. I think having helped out was sort of good enough," he added.

In the end, Glee Club Lite organized the event itself, said manager Larry T. Huyhn '97.

Huyhn said he was grateful to the fraternity for coming up with the idea in the first place, adding that members of Glee Club Lite valued the cause and liked the idea of bringing various singing groups together at the start of the spring semester.

Even though Sigma Chi was forbidden formal involvement in the concert, chapter brothers still participated in the event informally.

Doolittle and Kappa Eta member Mark T. Hunter '97 both appeared on the concert's program as volunteers for the Genesis Fund, the local affiliate of CMN. Doolittle said this involvement was independent of the two students' fraternity membership, even though CMN is the official charity of Sigma Chi.

Doolittle said he served as house manager on the night of the show, and that he, Hunter and a few friends they enlisted did a lot of the show's preparatory legwork.

"Glee Club really produced the event, which was wonderful, because the money is still going to CMN," Doolittle said.

Huynh said he did not credit the fraternity with any involvement after its original proposal.

"They came to us with an idea, and that's it," Huynh said. "I didn't have to go around bearing a torch for Sigma Chi. They weren't involved at all--managerially or logistically."

In fact, he said, it wasn't widely known among Glee Club members or the student body that the fraternity had any connection to the Miracle Jam.

And Doolittle said it was purely coincidental that Sigma Chi members appeared in the concert

Doolittle said he served as house manager on the night of the show, and that he, Hunter and a few friends they enlisted did a lot of the show's preparatory legwork.

"Glee Club really produced the event, which was wonderful, because the money is still going to CMN," Doolittle said.

Huynh said he did not credit the fraternity with any involvement after its original proposal.

"They came to us with an idea, and that's it," Huynh said. "I didn't have to go around bearing a torch for Sigma Chi. They weren't involved at all--managerially or logistically."

In fact, he said, it wasn't widely known among Glee Club members or the student body that the fraternity had any connection to the Miracle Jam.

And Doolittle said it was purely coincidental that Sigma Chi members appeared in the concert