On April 22, 1953, the president and secretary of the Sigma Chi Association, the name of our alumni association at that time, signed an agreement with the Fresno State College Alumni Association to create an endowment, and they provided a $120 cash contribution. That was the beginning of the concept for Epsilon Eta to build an endowment. Then on October 30, 1975, aware of her declining health, brother Allen Barr Olson’s mother, Jo Olson bequeathed 1/6 of her and Barr’s estate to the Fresno State College Alumni Trust Council to be used as a scholarship in the name of Allen Barr Olson (52-T).
The White Rose Memorial Scholarship Fund was created through the Fresno State Alumni Association (FSAA) on June 29, 1993. The FSAA uses a fund manager, currently Charles Schwab, to manage the funds of dozens of endowments like ours in a manner that guarantees continuous annual income in perpetuity.
The idea for the White Rose came from the Fresno Sigma Chi House Corporation board members. The original goals were to “encourage academic excellence,” and by including only in-house brothers for the funding pool, to “create long-term financial stability for the House Corporation.” As we all know, the House Corporation is charged with maintaining our most important icon at Fresno State Sigma Chi, the Chapter House.
On December 27, 2016, the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment was created, also through the FSAA. It had the same goals as the White Rose, and although the university will not allow us to combine the two endowments, our Endowment Board treats them as one.
Our scholarship program began to reach critical mass in 2018 when we were able to award a total of $12,000 to six in-house brothers. Brothers continued to donate to our Endowment, and this year we had enough income to award a total of $40,000.
The Chapter House was built for 41 brothers to live in, all in two-man rooms with the exception of the Consul’s room. Nowadays it is uncommon for siblings to share bedrooms, and the same is true for our live-in brothers. Although the real capacity is reduced to 20, the House Corporation is strong financially and the House is in pristine condition. Also, for the last several years Fresno Sigma Chi has had the highest GPA of all fraternities on campus, and has exceeded the all-men’s average. We accomplished our two original goals.
But there were unintended consequences. During the last four years, the percentage of live-in brothers who were scholarship awardees has grown to be 75% which means brothers who are serious about academics are occupying the House and influencing the behavior of other brothers. Also, word about Sigma Chi’s scholarship program has spread to the local high schools, and it is being used as a rush tool. Our investment in our undergraduate brothers through scholarships has paid off handsomely.