The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity will begin its eighth annualSleepout For The Homeless at the Scramble Light today.
Beginning at 8 a.m. the fraternity members will spend 24 hourscollecting donations for the Muncie Mission. They are looking foranything from clothing to food to monetary donations. Last yearthey raised more than $400 and hope to surpass that this year, KingTawiah, Phi Beta Sigma president, said.
Tawiah will have to do this with the help of the only othermember of Phi Beta Sigma, Vice President Leon Holloway.
Seniors Tawiah and Holloway are the only members left in theirfraternity.
Tawiah was the last member initiated into the fraternity in 2000when there were 14 members, he said.
Membership has declined because everyone has graduated, Tawiahsaid. "We are glad our members are graduating and doing somethingwith their lives."
Euliza Gates, National Pan-Hellenic president, said only threeto five members is the average of NPHC organizations.
"We have a close knit group that helps each other out," Gatessaid.
Of the other NPHC fraternities and sororities, Alpha Phi Alphafraternity and Delta Sigma Theta sorority have the mostmembers.
Alpha Phi Alpha has 13 and Delta Sigma Theta has 11, Gates said.Omega Psi Phi and Iota Phi Theta currently don't have any activeundergraduate members.
Gates said the GPA requirements for fraternities and sororitiescause membership to be low.
The GPA requirement for Phi Beta Sigma is 2.5. Tawiah said hehas met men who want to join, but don't meet the requirements.Tawiah said they won't lower it.
"Grades are an automatic standard," Tawiah said.
NPHC fraternities and sororities currently hold a 2.8 to 3.0average GPA, Gates said.
The low amount of minorities on Ball States campus also seems tocontribute to membership levels.
About 700 to 800 minority students attend Ball State and 8 to 10percent of them make up the NPHC community, Gates said.
Even with Phi Beta Sigma's low membership Holloway and Tawiahstay positive and know that their numbers can turn around.
"Our support system helps keep us positive," Tawiah said.
The low amount of members in their fraternity and others in NPHCdoes not surprise them.
Since the fraternity came to Ball State in 1979, the largestnumber of members was about 20, Holloway said.
Since the fraternity was founded members feel they have remainedtrue to their values.
"Man should be judged by his character and not his color,"Tawiah said. "That still stands today."
The Phi Sigma Betas continue to look for new members by talkingto people around campus and participating in various events.
When they graduate from Ball State their chapter will stillremain on campus while alumni chapters in the area try to findmembers, Tawiah said.
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