Consul’s Report – Mitchell Rittman ‘26

Presented at the House Corporation Meeting on August 17, 2024

Chapter Receives Peterson Significant Chapter Award

Consul Mitch Rittman ’26 (left) and Pro Consul Drew Folkers ’26 hold up the J. Dwight Peterson Outstanding Chapter award they just received.

At the Krach Transformational Leaders Workshop held July 31 to Aug. 4 at Bowling Green State University, Richard Obert, a sophomore who is stepping into the role of annotator, on behalf of Delta Delta, received our first J. Dwight Peterson Significant Chapter award since the 2018-2019 academic year. We were one of 76 (out of 244) Sigma Chi chapters to receive this honor. This was a big goal of the past two Executive teams and is a massive accomplishment for the chapter given the situation that we were in not even two full years ago.

Horizon’s Participants

We also had four brothers attend various Horizons sessions this summer. Attendees included me, Drew Folkers, Joe Huntine and Heemir Patel. We are fortunate to have alumni involved enough to make us a Bell chapter.  This designation guarantees the chapter has one Horizons spot and and gives us preference for additional attendees. This was an impactful experience, and we are all motivated to apply what we learned at Horizons this upcoming year.

Summer Rush Events

We also held three rush events this summer; two of which were in the Indianapolis area, and one was in the Chicago area. There was a good turnout at each of the Indy area events. Our recruitment chairman also held our first “summer virtual rush event”.  We had 13 interested incoming freshmen from around the country connect with us this way. From these summer events, we have identified several young men who will follow up with during our upcoming recruitment period.

More Emphasis on Pledge Class Academics

The Great Hall awaits the return of the brothers.

As we head into the fall semester, our primary concern at the moment is bringing in an excellent pledge class that exceeds the ideals outlined in the Jordan Standard. This will be a particularly important pledge class as it will round out a full chapter for the first time since the membership review two years ago. After rush, our focus will turn to improving our new pledgeship program that was successful last year in educating the new members on the history of not only the fraternity at large, but also our own storied chapter. Though this aspect of the program went well, it left a lot to be desired in the way of academics as we were not able to hold study tables. Academics are a critical piece of the foundation of a healthy chapter’s culture, and we are anxious to extend more academic support to the Delta Delta 2028 pledge class. Simultaneously, we will be preparing and practicing initiation so that we can put together a similar performance as last year, which was heralded by Grand Praetor Dan Brown as one of the best initiations he had seen.

Experienced Chapter Leaders

In addition to these focuses, our executive team is determined to build on our successes over the past year and is looking to make winning the Peterson a staple of the Delta Delta chapter again rather than a one-off occurrence. There are a lot of familiar faces on the committee this semester. Since we had a disproportionate share of underclassman representation, there was a steep learning curve last semester. Despite this, I believe we thrived as a team as evidenced by our winning of a Peterson award and a third consecutive semester without charges from the IFC. With a semester of experience under the belt, Pro Consul Drew Folkers and I are prepared to make systematic improvements to the executive team that will enable it to thrive after we’ve left office.  This includes having monthly check-ins with the officers to ensure that everyone follows up on the goals outlined at the executive retreats.

Increase Presence in IFC

Finally, we would like to build upon our increased presence in the Interfraternity Council that we’ve seen over these past couple of years. We’ve been successful in encouraging new members to push for associate board positions, and as a result, the past two associate vice presidents of risk management have both been Sigma Chis. This is a practice that we will look to continue this winter. Additionally, I intend to run for an executive position in IFC following my term as Consul and will encourage fellow junior Drew Parker to find brothers who can fill his shoes on the IFC Board of Directors. I believe that this presence has been crucial in building trust with the FSCL staff at Purdue, turning the chapter’s culture around, and allowing us to stay ahead of the curve with our risk management practices.

To our alumni brothers we want to thank you for your continued support and showing us what it means to be a Sigma Chi brother at Delta Delta.

In Hoc,

Mitchell Rittman ’26
Consul