New Hampshire Frat Repairs Community Image

Fraternity Given Second Chance

It may have taken a lot of hard work, but the brothers of the University of New Hampshire's chapter of Sigma Beta have repaired their relationship with a steamship company.

Sigma Beta, a local fraternity at the university, took a cruise in September 2006 in a boat owned by Shoals Steamship Co., of Portsmouth, N.H.

While on the cruise, some of the fraternity's brothers and their dates were found to underage drinking, and the ship was forced to return to its dock.

Over the next 10 months, the brothers of Sigma Beta worked to repair their relationship with the cruiseline, by spending time landscaping, scraping and painting the benches, and fixing parts of the dock.

"It was important for the fraternity to show that responsibility and accountability count for a lot, and that something positive could come from this incident," the company said in a press release.