UW fraternity to be featured on morning shows Thursday

The University of Washington fraternity featured in The Seattle Times Tuesday for its good manners is enjoying a moment in the national limelight.

Two morning TV shows - "Good Morning America" on ABC and "Today" on NBC - plan to air segments on Sigma Phi Epsilon Thursday morning. The frat has transformed a boozy past to embrace a new program called "Balanced Man."

Zach Meissner, who will take over as fraternity president next quarter, said a professor agreed to push back one of his finals so he could deal with the attention, which included about 60 telephone calls. NBC correspondent Mark Mullen, who was filming at the frat house Wednesday, said the students have been good sports.

Both ABC and NBC expect to air the segments in the first hour or so of the morning shows, which begin at 7 a.m. Another chapter of the fraternity, at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., has also made news after a fraternity brother was accused of robbing a bank.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com