FRATERNITY BENEFIT PREACHES BROTHERHOOD

Members and alumni of the Southeast Missouri State University chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity united in song Saturday night to call attention to hazing.

About 200 people came to the fraternity's gospel concert in Academic Auditorium. There was no charge for the event, but $????? in donations was collected to benefit the Michael A. Davis Memorial Scholarship.

Davis was a Southeast Missouri State University student killed while pledging Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity in February 1994.

"We're putting on this concert trying to make Greek life look better and to raise money for the scholarship," said Joe Guyton, president of the Phi Beta Sigma chapter. "The scholarship is one of our big events because there have been several organizations that left campus because of hazing."

The concert featured performances by the Phi Beta Sigma Inspirations of Peace choir. Also performing were guest choirs from churches in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Paducah.

Ann Hayes from the university's News Bureau said $3,861.59 had been collected prior to the gospel concert for the Davis scholarship. Of that amount, 58 percent was contributed by various Greek-letter organizations.

"All of the (Greek-letter organizations) have been great about contributing to the scholarship," said Lisa Fedler, assistant director of the University Center and Greek adviser. "Every time a group does something like this, they remember Michael in a positive way. This allows them to do it without having to have everything focused on talking about hazing."

Since December, five members and 10 fraternity alumni have traveled between Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Paducah, Ky., and St. Louis bi-weekly in preparation for the event. Guyton said the idea for the concert grew out of a need to share the mew religious spirit members and alumni seemed to be feeling.

"We're supposed to be men," he said. "Our principals are scholarship, brotherhood and service, and that's what we strive to achieve. We just feel religion has been blossoming out of us and we wanted to share that."

Marc Cruse, a 1995 Southeast graduate and Phi Beta Sigma alumnus, said during the program that anyone wanting to see and hear true brotherhood only needed to look at the stage.

"These are my brothers, even if none of us were members of Phi Beta Sigma," Cruse said during the program. "I've been a Sigma 11 years in July. All of these 11 years, I was trying to get to real brotherhood. Then I looked in the Bible and found it in Psalms 133: `Behold how good and blessed it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'"