The greek community at Ohio State is welcoming back to campus one of the oldest and largest fraternities in the country, Kappa Sigma.

Three years ago, Kappa Sigma and OSU decided it was best for the fraternity to close its doors.

According to members at the national headquarters of Kappa Sigma, the fraternity was closed because of hazing violations and members not living up to the values of the chapter.

Several years ago an agreement was reached with university officials that allowed the fraternity a chance to return to campus after serving a two-year suspension.

“Greeks at OSU were never really privy to the information leading the reasons for Kappa Sigma’s suspension from OSU, just simply that they violated Ohio State policies,” said Geoff Korff, vice president of operations for the Interfraternity Council at OSU.

After a three-year hiatus, Kappa Sigma is back at OSU hoping to revive the dormant Alpha Sigma chapter.

“Kappa Sigma is very excited about our return to the campus of The Ohio State University,” said David Aurich, area recruitment manager for the fraternity.

Over the next few weeks, Kappa Sigma will be out on campus recruiting at least 50 students interested in rebuilding the chapter.

“New members will have the opportunity to develop a chapter from the ground up, based on the principles of fellowship, leadership, scholarship and service,” said Matthew Bott, assistant executive director for the fraternity.

Despite the recent troubles Kappa Sigma has faced at OSU, the Alpha Sigma chapter has been part of the greek community on campus since 1895.

Over the years, Kappa Sigma has built a huge networking base here in the state.

Kappa Sigma provides its members with an opportunity to land a job upon graduation since there are over 5,000 former members living in the state, Bott said.

Students interested in joining the fraternity will soon have a renovated chapter house to call home.

Kappa Sigma alumni have been raising money to help transform the old chapter house, located at 1842 Indianola Ave., into a more modern and appealing facility.

Some members of the greek community believe the rebirth of the fraternity has both its positives and negatives.

“As it stands now, I believe there are nearly 30 fraternities and only about 18 sororities, so this does draw a gap into social activities between fraternities and sororities, and adding another fraternity to widen the gap seems almost counter intuitive,” Korff said. “As a positive, having an established national fraternity such as Kappa Sigma back at OSU will strengthen our greek system.”

and the hope is that this will continue to create momentum for us as a whole.”