In the fall of 1965 a banner appeared in the Mace and Crown, the collegiate newspaper on the campus of Old Dominion College.  The author of the banner was Donald K. Marchand Jr., Associate Professor of Science at ODC.  This is what the banner said: “There will be a meeting of all men who have been affiliated with Sigma Nu Fraternity as brothers or pledges in the old science building, room 105, 12:30 PM.”  I can not remember the specific date, but I do recall who attended that meeting.

     There were five men who responded to the announcement.  Their names were as follows:  Frank Budik, Dusty Olds, Gary James, Steve Hochman, and Watt Jones.  Frank and Dusty were Sigma Nus from East Carolina.  My affiliation had been at Hampden-Sydney College as a pledge.  Donald K. Marchand Jr., a distinguished Sigma Nu alumnus from West Virginia University and a member of the faculty of Old Dominion College, chaired the meeting.

     From that humble beginning, the Eta Chi Chapter of the Sigma Nu Fraternity was born.  Besides meeting each other in our first meeting, we were asked to convene together in two weeks with this instruction from Don Marchand: “Please bring one other potential member with you to our next meeting and be sure he is a man of the highest character and honor that we knew.”  Two weeks later our first five men became ten men.  We were on our way, but we had not decided what national fraternity would be our best fit.  Our numbers grew… 10 to 20… then 25… over a period of at least a year.

     Then, under the careful direction of “D.K.” Marchand, we contacted Mr. Richard Fletcher, Executive Secretary of the Sigma Nu Fraternity.  While many details have been lost, I do remember the process of earning a charter with the Sigma Nu Fraternity did take two years.

     In 1966-67 Sigma Nu required that petitioning colonies publish a booklet containing the brief history of the new colony and mail it to all existing chapter in the United States.  75% of all Sigma Nu Chapters had to vote “Yes” to approve our petition and 100% of the chapters in Virginia had to approve our petition for our local fraternity to be accepted into the Sigma Nu National Network. 

     On February 25, 1967 we culminated our efforts by officially earning our “Charter” during a black tie dinner in Webb Center on the campus of Old Dominion College.  38 members including 5 founders were initiated by the Sigma Nu men from the College of William and Mary.  Other dignitaries who attended the dinner included Mr. Ted Palmer, Grand Treasurer of the Fraternity, Richard Fletcher, Executive Secretary of Sigma Nu, Donald K. Marchand, “Father of Eta Chi Chapter”, and many family members of the newly initiated brothers.

- Watt Jones, HX-2

     Today, 44 years following our first meeting in 1965, there are 822 initiated Sigma Nu Brothers in the Eta Chi Chapter of the Sigma Nu Fraternity.