there’s been a flurry of activity in Sigma cyberspace this week over an email thread which revealed the fund which held the dues paid by life members in trust is only a fraction of what it once was. so much so that each life member is actually a drain on the organization. there is not enough money in the fund to generate enough interest to cover the annual dues of life members.
i misunderstood the email that came through a few years back about the changes to the life membership program. when i chose to become active with the org again, i’d just missed the boat under the old program and had decided i wanted to achieve those ten consectutive years of financial status required by the new program to become a life member. but after what i found out this week, i’m glad i didn’t.
here’s my summary from the emails:
in the early 1990s, a court ruling against the org resulted in a judgement against us, resulting in a $400k assessment against the fraternity. the members and some of the board had not been told of the suit against the fraternity or the decision to fight the case in court. The officers made the same mistake made several times in later cases; they decided to appeal. Unfortunately the appeal was ill-conceived and the final increased judgment was $600k. over time the fraternity just stalled and refused to make any effort to pay. the plaintiffs found out that the life membership fund of the fraternity was being secured at the Citizen’s Trust Company of Atlanta, GA. they seized the $600K owed to them. that left the $100K that Bro. Jemison reports was in the account when he took over as IED. when current Intl Treasurer Bro. Jimmy Hammock was elected, there was nothing. since then, over $200k has been collected.
this is a sad story on so many levels. first off, that many learned of this just now – be it by email or this blog. secondly, that the few who were in the know took it upon themselves to act unilaterally on behalf of the fraternity. thirdly, that their actions have financial impacts that persist to this day. i’m sure there are more, but i’ll let you chime in. what the heck happened to economic wisdom?
bro. hammock says “Based on the current financial position of the fraternity, the repayment will begin in 2008.” but i don’t see any plan that shows how we get to $600k (or rather what that $600k would amount to today). it probably entails asking us to pull out our wallets again. maybe we should go after a few people who have stolen from us?